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\u201cThe biggest thing for me is his personality,\u201d added Southgate. \u201cWe knew our anthem would be booed, we talked to the players about taking energy from that. We wanted to prepare them. But I\u2019m looking at him stood in the line and I know what\u2019s coming. That\u2019s the sort of thing that makes the difference: the mentality of the player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Undaunted, Bellingham is a big-game player. And yet a leader can also be a follower; Southgate is impressed that a potential great has attached himself to a couple of grizzled full-backs, in Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing in this group is our senior players are such good leaders, we\u2019ve got six or seven who are incredible,\u201d Southgate said. \u201cThe two full-backs who played are incredible characters for us, real unsung heroes, and they set a brilliant leadership example around the place.\u201d Trippier captains Newcastle. Walker currently has the City armband. For England, each has normally been in the ranks, though Trippier has twice begun international matches with the armband. Southgate feels each has an influence, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere he\u2019s bright enough is to attach himself to those sorts of characters,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe people you mix, the people you hang around with in life, probably are a good indicator of where you\u2019re going to end up. He\u2019s really savvy at that. I think his whole life and how his family have looked after him have given him a great start but there\u2019s still a lot to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
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If it offers lessons in leadership, Bellingham can absorb plenty.<\/p>\n
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The Dortmund dressing room included Reus, Hummels and Julian Brandt. At Real, there is the potential to learn from Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and David Alaba.<\/p>\n
There is also the probability that a cosmopolitan career path will produce other benefits. \u201cI think the biggest thing is he\u2019ll be opened to different life experiences that are going to help his game,\u201d said Southgate. \u201cYou can work with world class players in some English clubs but the club he\u2019s at the expectation, it\u2019s the biggest club in the world. He will be learning from some outstanding players. Playing against different tactical systems, different sorts of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellingham\u2019s role at Real is also something new: at the tip of a midfield diamond, in a striker-less system, with added responsibility for scoring. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of freedom there because he\u2019s got three really athletic midfield players behind him,\u201d Southgate said. \u201cSo for most of the season they\u2019ve been playing without a No.9 so he\u2019s been the one making the [runs into the] box.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Increasingly, Bellingham is the player who ticks the boxes. The shirt he long wore \u2013 No.22 \u2013 was famously because he could be a 4, an 8 or a 10. He operated as a 10 for England in Scotland; at times he is more of a false nine for Real while wearing the No.5 jersey that was once Zinedine Zidane\u2019s.<\/p>\n
If it has become part of his destiny, he may become a player to follow in the footsteps of Wright and Moore, David Beckham and Kane. But not just yet.<\/p>\n