Record-breaker Bellingham was seen as ‘special’ even as a kid in the Birmingham academy

JORDAN JAMES knew record-breaker Jude Bellingham was special from the age of nine.

The Wales and Birmingham midfielder, 18, trained alongside Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid yesterday from Borussia Dortmund in a £115million deal, in the Blues academy.

And James hailed the 19-year-old England ace after he became the most expensive British player of all-time with his six-year switch to the Bernabeu.

Birmingham are set to cash in on Bellingham’s eye-watering deal with the 14-time European champions.

Reports have claimed the Championship club will land a windfall in excess of £6million as part of the move when Bellingham left the Midlands for Dortmund in 2020.

James said: “I’m really happy for him because he deserves everything he gets because he’s worked so hard for it all.

“But most importantly, he’s a really nice guy. I hope he goes on and shows just what he can do.

“When I joined Birmingham at eight years old, I used to go up and train and play with him.

“You knew from an early age he was a level above everyone. He could see from the way he dribbles. He was technically gifted.

“We all saw at the World Cup, he was the best player for me. At a young age he was always the best player on the pitch.

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“People were always talking about him, he was the main guy and now he’s gone to Real Madrid – that’s really good.

“He had his growth spurt just before he turned 15 and you can see he has now turned into a man.

“That’s what helped him a lot and now he’s playing at the highest level because of it. He’s an unbelievable player.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk