Real Madrid Star Bellingham ‘Living In Different World’, Says England Boss

Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham is ‘living in a different world’ according to England manager Gareth Southgate, who made this claim in an interview with French magazine L’Equipe.

The 20-year-old joined Los Blancos last summer, and couldn’t have dreamt about how quickly he has adapted to life at one of the world’s biggest clubs and how well things have gone in his maiden term.

An unexpected challenger for Spain’s top scorer award known as the Pichichi from midfield, he is also being talked up as a Ballon d’Or candidate that has already won La Liga and is through to the Champions League final against his old club Borussia Dortmund on June 1.

A strong Euros campaign with the Three Lions in Germany could be the icing on the cake for his campaign to win football’s highest individual honor, and his boss at the UEFA
iShares MSCI EAFE ETF
international tournament Southgate spoke a little about the number 5’s progress to L’Equipe.

“There has been a change in terms of his positioning on the pitch, as he occupies a different role in Madrid. Afterwards, the conversations I had with him were about the fact that he now lives in a different world,” Southgate revealed.

“He’s still very young, he manages all this very well, but his life can’t be that of a 20-year-old who can go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants. I spent some time talking to him to get him to realize what that means. I played with David Beckham, who lived in a different world. This world is Jude’s today,” added the tactician.

Southgate said that Bellingham is “aware” of how high his stock has risen, but “didn’t seem to suffer from it”.

“But it wouldn’t be abnormal if he had a hard time processing it,” Southgate noted. “Especially since his breakout at Real was at a very high level.”

“Then he got injured, but he couldn’t maintain this level for the whole season… Jude reminds me of Steven Gerrard. Even when the opposition gives the impression of being in control of the match, these are players capable of turning the game around. Through their mentality, they influence their teammates.”

Southgate explained that Bellingham is very respectful of his elders in the England locker room and imagines that “he did the same thing when he arrived at Madrid, showing respect to players like Toni Kroos or Luka Modric”.

“Jude knows he can learn from them, but at the same time he wants to take their place. Therefore, you always have to find a balance between being respectful of the players present and sending them the message: ‘I’m here to play’,” Southgate said.