Gary Neville Says Jude Bellingham Is England’s Superstar Right Now, Not the Next One

Gary Neville has watched England play in five different tournaments as a pundit. None of it, he says, compares to what he saw from Jude Bellingham against Norway.

Bellingham scored both goals as England won 2-1 after extra time in Miami to reach the World Cup semi-finals, where Argentina wait in Atlanta on Wednesday. Speaking to Sky Sports News afterwards, Neville said the performance left him with goosebumps and put Bellingham in a different bracket to any England player he has watched live.

“He has been absolutely sensational,” Neville said. “Honestly, it gives me goosebumps to watch a performance like that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an England player have an influence in a tournament like that.

“I was with Gazza (Paul Gascoigne) in 1996, I was with Wayne Rooney in 2004, I was with Michael Owen in 1998. I watched those things live and I’ve never seen anything like this. This is absolutely exceptional. It’s at the highest level.”

England’s Superstar Now, Not the Next One

Bellingham has now scored six goals at this World Cup, driving England through the knockout rounds almost single-handedly at times, in Neville’s telling, with support from Harry Kane. For Neville, the shift in status is no longer up for debate.

“This isn’t England’s next superstar. This is England’s superstar right now. This is happening. You’ve got to recognise, this is obviously game-changing,” Neville said.

“You’re performing in a World Cup. You scored six goals. You’ve literally been unbelievable, both in attack and defence. You got your team through almost single-handedly with the support of Harry Kane. He’s 23 years of age. It is absolutely monumental what that lad is doing.”

Neville even brought his own family into the conversation, pointing to how Bellingham’s performances have reached beyond football supporters who follow the sport closely.

“My daughters love football. They’re 16 and 17 years of age. They absolutely adore him. He is a hero. Every kid in England right now is watching this World Cup and they’re thinking they’re Jude Bellingham,” Neville said. “The impact that he is having on young people in our country, on young people around the world in this country that we’re in, in the US, it honestly is magnificent.”

Neville said he had spoken with Roy Keane and Ian Wright after the win over Norway, and that the consensus among them went beyond the goals.

“I was talking to Roy Keane and Ian Wright after the game last night and they said, right now, if you’re watching football, you’re seeing the best midfield player in the world and that’s not because he’s scoring goals, by the way,” Neville said. “We don’t tend to sort of give flowers too much for the goals. We know we need them but it’s the other bits around it that go to make the complete player that gives him the edge.”

The Tuchel Exchange

The win over Norway was followed by a public disagreement between Bellingham and head coach Thomas Tuchel. Tuchel criticised England’s overall display despite the result, and Bellingham responded to questions about the criticism in his own post-match interview with a one-word answer: “Whatever.”

Rather than treat the exchange as a problem, Neville said he welcomed it, drawing on his own 20 years in the Manchester United dressing room under Sir Alex Ferguson.

“I really liked it,” Neville said. “I think when I look back to the previous couple of tournaments, I’m not a great believer in players not doing interviews, particularly when you’re the best players in the team. The reason is that you’re asking other players to do the interviews for you.

“One thing is for certain, an England player has to do interviews after a football match. If you’re the guy that’s basically the star player, if you’re the guy that’s going to go and win us the games, I think you’re the guy that’s got to go and speak. Jude Bellingham, after every single game in this tournament, has spoken. Even after the Ghana draw earlier in the tournament when it wasn’t a great England performance, there was a bit of criticism flying around.

“I think there are only a number of players that can make interviews like that, that can punch back a little bit at the manager. He’s one of them. I liked Thomas Tuchel’s interview as well.”

Neville said the tension reminded him of his own playing career, where big personalities and demanding managers regularly clashed without it becoming destructive.

“I lived with that for 20 years in the Manchester United dressing room with a manager who wasn’t always happy when we won and would go out there and sometimes surprise us by what he would say publicly about the quality of the performance when he might have won by two or three in a big game,” Neville said. “I can live with that as well. I don’t mind Thomas Tuchel’s interview, but I really loved Jude Bellingham’s interview because I think he’s taken responsibility on the pitch and off the pitch throughout this tournament. To me, I played with enough great players to know that’s what you have to do.

“I will be critical of players who don’t stand up and do interviews. I will be critical of players who don’t believe that the off-pitch stuff is as important as the on-pitch stuff. I’ve played with enough great players to know that you can be good in possession and out of possession.”

Comparing Managers

Neville went further, contrasting Tuchel’s willingness to hold his players to account with an England managerial history he says has too often shied away from confrontation.

“There’s this sort of thinking when you’re an England manager, that they’re not your players and you’ve somehow got to make sure you keep them happy. You’ve got to somehow make sure that you send them back to their clubs happy and you’ve got to make sure that when they’re there, you’ve got to cuddle them and look after them. Sort of mollycoddle them,” Neville said.

“The only manager that I ever had with England that didn’t do that was Terry Venables. He was the best manager I had with England by a country mile. I remember he used to take on big characters like Paul Ince or Paul Gascoigne. He would rip right into them at half-time in football matches and they would have a go back. That’s when you’ve got accountability at the highest level where people can be straight with each other.”

He added: “Thomas Tuchel comes out, he’s been given an interview, he’s not happy with the performance because he knows that team can do better and he knows they’ll have to do better to beat Argentina. Secondly, he’s got a player who wants a little bit of respect for getting to a World Cup semi-final and for the achievements and the effort and the commitment that the players have put in. So for me, I’ve got no problem with this type of stuff.

“I think it happens. I witnessed it at the club I played for a long time, whereby you have these massive characters and egos and you have a manager who is a ferocious, tenacious, unbelievable winner and sometimes it comes to a head but it’s not a problem. It’s better to be like that than it is the other way.”

Neville also praised the substance behind Bellingham’s post-match answers rather than just the words themselves.

“What I liked about that interview isn’t just the words that come out of his mouth. It’s the look in his eyes. You see the look in his eyes of someone who is fierce, who’s completely and utterly determined to go and succeed,” Neville said.

Looking Ahead to Argentina

England will face Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday for a place in Sunday’s final. Neville said he expects the Tuchel-Bellingham exchange to generate headlines through the build-up, but does not believe it threatens the team’s preparation.

“We’ve got a game on Wednesday. I think that there may be a little bit made about the Tuchel-Bellingham stuff. That’s obviously something that’s been going on for 12 months, but Tuchel isn’t dropping him,” Neville said. “Bellingham is also probably respecting his manager for having the guts to actually say it after as well. He may not do now, but in certainly five, 10 or 15 years, when he thinks about excellence and elite performance, he’ll recognise that Thomas Tuchel was only striving for more out of the team at a point whereby he believes they can deliver more.”

He struck a note of caution about the level of England’s football even as he praised Bellingham individually.

“Now we’ve got a massive game against Argentina on Wednesday and we know in football, it’s knockout football, that things can go wrong but we’ve got to enjoy him and we’ve got to enjoy where we are while it’s happening,” Neville said. “I’d like England to be playing better. I’d like them to be combining better. I’d like to see more patterns. But the reality of it is this tournament is a lot about moments. It’s a lot about big players turning up and we have that. We really do.”

England’s win over Norway was their fourth appearance in a World Cup semi-final. A win over Argentina on Wednesday would put Tuchel’s side into their first final in nearly six decades, with a chance to end a wait that dates back to their only tournament win in 1966.