Jude Bellingham: England's Rising Star in the World Cup

Jude Bellingham was supposed to be the question. He has become the answer.

Heading into this World Cup cycle, his place in Thomas Tuchel’s squad drew raised eyebrows, not reverence. North America had not always been kind to him, and with Morgan Rogers snapping at his heels for the No.10 role, the debate grew louder. Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Morgan Gibbs-White all stayed at home. The glare on the Real Madrid star intensified.

If that scrutiny bothered him, he has hidden it well. Or rather, he has crushed it.

Bellingham opened his 2026 World Cup account in the most Bellingham way possible, dragging England back in front during a wild 4-2 win over Croatia that set the tone for their campaign. It was a statement goal in a statement game, the sort that instantly silences talk of who should or shouldn’t have made the plane.

Then came Panama. Tight, awkward, attritional. England needed someone to prise the game open. Bellingham did, breaking the deadlock in a hard-fought contest that threatened to drift. He didn’t just influence the game; he bent it his way.

Mexico in the last 16 was something else entirely. Altitude. Azteca Stadium. A ferocious home crowd. The kind of occasion that has shrunk big reputations in the past. Bellingham didn’t shrink. He soared. A quickfire brace turned a dangerous tie into one of England’s most memorable World Cup wins, the 23-year-old striding through the chaos as if born for that specific noise, that specific pressure.

This is becoming a pattern. Bellingham doesn’t just play in big games; he decorates them.

The comparisons have always hovered around him – Gazza’s flair, Wayne Rooney’s ferocity – but they feel less fanciful with every decisive touch. Former England defender Des Walker, speaking to GOAL in association with Wiz Slots, sees the same trait that marked out the greats.

“He comes to the party, Jude, in the important games, in the important moments,” Walker said. “That's what Rooney does, that's what Gazza does, that's what all great players do.”

Walker goes further, pointing to an athletic profile that separates Bellingham even at the elite level.

“He is the best athlete, probably in the world, in terms of the amount of running he can do and the power that he has from the first minute to the last minute. And more than anything, when Jude goes in the box, he goes in for one reason. He doesn't go in to make up the numbers, he goes in to get the goal.”

That mentality changes everything for England. Harry Kane no longer carries the entire burden of end product.

“I think that's a fantastic thing to have in your team, because the onus isn't just on Harry,” Walker added. “Jude will, in every game he plays, go to score a goal. And with his power, his athleticism and his will to win, it puts him in that category of the best in the world.”

This is not just about numbers or running data. It is about personality, about a player who wants the spotlight and then does something with it.

Pressed on whether Bellingham thrives under the harshest glare, Walker didn’t hesitate.

“Definitely. He is the main man. He revels in trying to be the main man. I think that's what inspires him. He wants to be the show-off, the big head.”

That could easily grate in the wrong hands. With Bellingham, it fuels him.

“That's all good being the big head and the show-off, but you've got to be big-headed and show-off on the pitch,” Walker said. “He does that, and that's his strength. I think when you try to curtail that, we call it arrogance in sport, you need arrogance. You try to curtail that from him, you're taking away half his game.”

Walker has seen the other type up close: big talkers, small performances.

“Because there's plenty of players, we've all seen loads of players that are off the park, they've got the biggest mouth in the world, they're cocky, they walk around like they're the best footballers in the world. Come Saturday afternoon, when you're playing the real tough teams, the big teams, sometimes they go missing. Jude doesn't go missing.”

He hasn’t gone missing for England in this latest push for global glory. Quite the opposite. In a squad that still leans on the record-breaking output and leadership of Kane, it is the Birmingham-born midfielder who increasingly drives the team’s emotional tempo, who plays as if insulted by the idea of another near-miss.

Sixty years of hurt sit on this group’s shoulders. If that weight finally lifts this summer, if England at last tear that number out of their history, there is little doubt whose fingerprints will be all over the moment.