THE Jude Bellingham question has been raging at the heart of England’s future prospects for some time.
The Real Madrid Galactico is undoubtedly the finest English talent of his generation – their slim chances of winning next summer’s World Cup depend on him.
Yet Bellingham’s tinderbox personality threatens to blow the bloody doors off any tournament campaign.
And while Thomas Tuchel has suffered a hellish second international break in charge of the Three Lions, at least he seems to understand the Bellingham conundrum.
Tuchel is adamant that England need their Real Madrid Galactico if they are to have any hope of winning next year’s World Cup.
But the England manager admits his star player is in danger of being more intimidating to his own team-mates than to the opposition.
After a dire international break, which saw the Three Lions humbled in defeat by Senegal and dismal in a 1-0 win over minnows Andorra, Tuchel knows how he handles Bellingham – as a tactician and a man-manager – is central to England’s chances.
After Tuesday’s 3-1 loss at the City Ground, Bellingham was kicking water bottles and remonstrating with match officials, having had an equaliser disallowed following his arrival as a late sub.
And Tuchel admits Bellingham needs to channel his anger more effectively to help the team – and also to win the affections of the manager’s mother, former special needs teacher Gabriele.
Tuchel told talkSPORT: “Jude is bringing a certain edge but I see that it can create mixed emotions.
“I see this with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice, well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see.
“If he smiles, he wins (over) everyone. But sometimes you see the rage, the hunger and the fire, and it comes out in a way that can be a bit repulsive, for example, for my mother, when she sits in front of the TV.
“I see that, but in general we are very happy to have him. He is a special boy.
“He has a certain something. He brings an edge, which we welcome and which is needed if we want to achieve big things.”
This is a concern for Tuchel given that Bellingham is expected to miss England’s key World Cup qualifier in Serbia in September due to his recovery from planned shoulder surgery.
At 22, Bellingham is a serious talent and a Champions League winner – yet there are aspects of his temperament which leave many wondering whether he will become the next Bobby Charlton or the next Dele Alli.
Tuchel was candid in floating the idea that Bellingham’s England team-mates might be intimidated by him.
The German said: “The edge needs to be channelled, the edge towards the opponent, towards our goal and not to intimidate team-mates, or to be over aggressive to team-mates or referees.
“But towards opponents and always towards the solution, towards winning. We are on to that.
“He has the fire. I don’t want to dim this down. He should play with this kind of fire, that’s his strength.
“But the fire comes with some attributes that can intimidate you, maybe even as a team-mate.
“You see sometimes the explosion towards referees and the anger in his game, so if he can channel this in the right way, and we can help him in this, then for sure he has the something that we need. He has a certain edge that is hard to find.”
As for Bellingham’s best playing position, Tuchel currently sees him as a No10 but with many attributes of a centre-forward.
The Brummie was a prolific scorer as a ‘false nine’ during his early months at Real Madrid in 2023 and impressed Tuchel with a diving header from which he almost scored during the first match of his England reign, against Albania in March.
Tuchel said: “From the outside, I thought for many years that he could be a No6 or No8.
The fire comes with some attributes that can intimidate you, maybe even as a team-mate
TUCHEL ON BELLINGHAM
“And then he had this amazing season where he played like a false nine with Real Madrid and scored and scored and was involved in chances.
“I still see this hunger. If you look at our first match against Albania and his diving header in the box.
“The hunger to go with his body in front of the defender to dive into this ball without any fear and the defender was with his foot and he was with his head, it just shows me the determination he has to be on the scoreboard.
“I see [in him] what I normally only see in strikers. I think now, at the moment, he’s more of a No8 or No10. Maybe a No10.”
Bellingham is close to Jordan Henderson and Tuchel admits the veteran Ajax midfielder’s presence in the squad has much to do with his positive influence on team-mates.
Tuchel said: “Since I met Jordan and observed him in camp I’m more convinced than ever that he is a very important addition to this group, especially when we talk about connections, about setting standards and keeping the group up to those standards.
“At the moment he is the man I don’t want to miss.
“He is still lean and fit, he is still ready to push on at international level. I’m convinced he is still ambitious.
“He pushes the group, he takes care of training, he takes care of the attitude. He actually brings players together.
“We see better versions of players when Jordan is in camp than when he is not.”
For Tuchel and for Henderson, the key to success is finding the best version of Bellingham.
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