Jude Bellingham's Impact in England's Euro 2024 Campaign
Jude Bellingham is not easing his way through another tournament. He’s tearing straight through the middle of it.
Handed a starting role as England launched their latest international campaign, the midfielder has become the heartbeat of a side fighting its way into contention. He drove England to a 4-2 win over Croatia in the opener, then broke the deadlock in a cagey, awkward clash with Panama when the game demanded a moment of authority.
When England needed more, he gave more.
With the team crying out for inspiration on the big stage, Bellingham and record-breaking captain Harry Kane have taken charge. Both found the net in a breathless last-16 win over Mexico at the iconic Azteca Stadium, a tie that felt like a test of nerve as much as talent.
The pressure finally told in England’s favour because Bellingham refused to treat it like just another night. He struck a rapid first-half brace, igniting wild celebrations and dragging his country through a contest that could easily have slipped away. His temperament has been prodded and poked in recent months, his personality dissected, his swagger questioned. Yet that same supreme self-belief is what has turned the Birmingham-born midfielder into a global superstar.
Danny Murphy has seen enough to be convinced.
Speaking to GOAL in association with BetWright football betting, the former England midfielder did not hold back in his assessment of Bellingham’s all-round package: athleticism, technique, fitness, mentality. Murphy placed him in rare company, mentioning Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen as the kind of prodigies whose early careers rewrote expectations.
Murphy pointed to Euro 2024 as proof that this is not some sudden surge in form. Even when England laboured and the performances around him dipped, Bellingham still forced the issue. He was the one attempting the spectacular overhead kick, the one timing his run to meet the decisive header, the one trying to wrestle the game back England’s way.
That blend of quality and conviction is what separates him. Murphy described a player operating at a level above his midfield rivals, dismissing any serious debate over whether Bellingham should start. The conversation, he suggested, was almost comical. Others are very good. Bellingham is something else. And he has shown it, repeatedly, on the biggest stages.
His club career tells the same story. Walking into Real Madrid and dominating his first season there is, as Murphy put it, “nothing short of incredible”. The only thing that has slowed him this year has been injury, not opposition defenders, not pressure, not expectation.
If he’s fit, he plays. Simple as that. Position almost feels like a secondary detail. Bellingham’s game is so complete that managers can move him around the pitch without blunting his impact. He adapts. Then he takes over.
The personality that comes with that level of talent can split opinion. His “who else” celebration at Euro 2024 was replayed and debated, seen by some as arrogance, by others as the natural posture of a player who knows he can decide matches. Murphy sits firmly in the latter camp. For him, that edge is not a problem; it is a weapon. Crucially, it never drags down Bellingham’s work rate or contribution.
That is where he breaks from a familiar pattern. The game is full of stars whose attacking brilliance excuses their reluctance to chase back. Murphy even pointed to Mohamed Salah as a modern example of a forward whose defensive output is secondary because his goals win so many matches. Bellingham, he argued, offers both sides: the match-winning quality and the relentless work ethic.
Right now, he looks like a player who can do everything. He plays with joy, but also with a hardness that belongs to the very top tier. He can decide games on his own, yet still graft like a squad player fighting for his place.
For those who questioned whether he should even be in the squad, let alone the starting XI, Murphy’s verdict was unforgiving. The pundits and writers who doubted him, who floated the idea that he might be better off left at home, should, in his view, be hanging their heads and apologising publicly.
Bellingham has answered every question that mattered where it counts most: on the pitch, under lights, with a tournament in the balance. The only real question left is how far he can drag England with him.
