His talent is not in question but England’s brightest young star still lacks the maturity his national manager demands
If Jude Bellingham is to force his way back into England’s best team then he would be wise to cut out the nonsense. His reaction when he saw that his number was about to come up after an evening of inconsistency in Tirana was not good enough.
It was a challenge to Thomas Tuchel’s authority and was hardly a clever look given that it added to the sense that this is a player who is yet to realise that his immediate international future hinges on embracing the collective.
Bellingham has to learn. There was no need for a strop. Harry Kane had just put England 2-0 up in a dead rubber of a qualifier, there were six minutes left and Bellingham, who had not played particularly well, had just been booked for fouling Armando Broja. This was hardly a controversial substitution. In fact it would have been foolish for Tuchel to leave Bellingham on given that there was a risk that midfielder would rule himself out of the opening game of the World Cup by picking up a second yellow card.
Yet Bellingham turned the spotlight on himself. There was no disguising the 22-year-old’s frustration when he clocked that he was going to make way for Morgan Rogers. He flung his arms in the air and although he shook Tuchel’s hand after making his way to the touchline it was clear that the head coach was not impressed.
