JUDE BELLINGHAM has been promised he will enjoy a ‘brilliant’ experience on his shock England debut tonight.
The 17-year-old from Dortmund will start on the bench but has been guaranteed to earn a dream run-out against the Irish to become the country’s third youngest player behind Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney.
Gareth Southgate has ‘promised’ Jude Bellingham a ‘brilliant’ experience on his England debutCredit: Rex Features
Bellingham, who joined Dortmund from Birmingham for £30m in the summer, was given a late call-up after an injury to James Ward-Prowse.
Manager Gareth Southgate said: “My initial conversation with him was that ‘you will have a few days with us, we’ll involve you in the game, we’ll see how it goes’.
“And that’s going to be a brilliant experience for him.”
Southgate also reacted to criticism that he had picked Bellingham ahead of Ross Barkley and James Maddison, pointing out they are completely different types of midfielders.
Bellingham players in a more central-defensive role.
Southgate added: “It’s always interesting to see the reaction when we select a player, because people are immediately talking about other players without understanding why we’ve called Jude up.
“We could flippantly say, ‘Well, he’s playing for a massive club and he’s playing Champions League football’, but there’s actually a bit more to it than that.
“Positionally, he’s playing in a two-man midfield at Dortmund, whether that’s a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-3. So, he’s in the exact position that we lost a player in James Ward-Prowse.
“But the bigger picture here is that, at times, we select older players to come in to challenge directly for competition for places.
“In this instance, we’re giving a young player an opportunity to work with us, to spend some time with us, invest some time with him, he’ll have a brilliant experience for a few days.
“It’s not a decision that he’s a better player than one or two older players who I’ve seen mentioned, although those players don’t play in the position that he plays. And that’s a fact.”
Jude Bellingham trains with England squad for the first time
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
