Jude Bellingham hit the ground running after making his debut for boyhood Birmingham City, and a former captain of the club was terrified of what he was to become
Former Birmingham City captain Harlee Dean couldn’t believe the raw talent Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham showed during his early days at St Andrew’s.
After moving from hometown Stourbridge Juniors to play for the Blues’ academy sides, Bellingham was always fast-tracked in progression. At 14, he was an under-18 regular; at 15, the under-23’s witnessed his talent.
It became an inevitability that the midfielder would one-day breakthrough, and that sliding-door moment came against Stoke City in 2019. As a first-half substitute, Bellingham completed his side’s comeback, scoring the second goal in a 2-1 home victory – becoming the Blues’ youngest goalscorer to date.
However, such prowess was not always apparent to defender Dean, who, despite being initially sceptical of the youngster, has opened up about what a frightening talent he developed into – and how humble he remained all the while.
“He come up as a kid, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t make much of him – we had a few kids coming up,” Dean began, speaking to the Under The Cosh podcast. “We had enough problems, it was the last thing I had to worry about was whether this kid was any good. It was just about staying up each year.
“The one thing I can remember is when he’s made his debut, it was Stoke at home, and I think someone went off injured early doors, and we looked over, and I’ve seen they’re bringing Jude on, and I’m like, ‘F*****g hell, we don’t need this now.’
“[He’s] 16 maybe, like just – ‘We don’t need this right now, we need someone who I know that we can trust,’ but how wrong was I? The kid came on, that was it. F*****g scored, and then just never looked back from there.”
Bellingham’s side called upon the 16-year-old after half an hour, but it would take until just before the 60-minute mark for either side to score – Stoke taking a 1-0 away lead. Yet, after a 73rd-minute leveller, the starlet’s deflected strike would seal all three points and his future.
“Every day in training, if you had on your team, you won,” Dean reminisced. “The best player every day, but just so humble with it as well. He would nutmeg you, take it around six people, put it in top bins and then didn’t wanna smile or celebrate or give it big. He’d just go and do it again, and that was it. F*****g frightening.
“If you smashed him, he’s smash you back; I f*****g loved it. I loved it. I loved everything that he stood for but never thought it would come to be what he’s been. You can’t, can you? How do you know? I think without his mindset and stuff, he wouldn’t have been that. But, yeah, different, different player.”
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The evidently prodigious Bellingham would play in yellow just one year after his goal versus Stoke, signing for Borussia Dortmund. Now, he is one of England’s brightest stars and remains a talismanic figure for Real Madrid – who face Premier League leaders Liverpool on Wednesday evening.
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