Jude Bellingham’s closest England squad ally speaks out on shock axe by Thomas Tuchel

England head coach Thomas Tuchel sprung something of a surprise in electing NOT to call up Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham to his Three Lions squad for the matches against Wales and Latvia this month

Jude Bellingham has an “elite mentality” and will earn his place back in the England set-up. That is the view of Jordan Henderson who is Bellingham’s closest ally in the England set-up as they have formed a special bond.

England boss Thomas Tuchel caused a major shock by leaving Real Madrid star Bellingham out of the squad to face Wales and Latvia. But Henderson insists that Bellingham makes England a better team and also that any notion that the 22-year-old has a big ego is misplaced and he is a “ world class person.”

England veteran Henderson said: “What Jude has achieved in his career so far, at such a young age, doesn’t just happen. He has got an elite mentality. Like I said, when he was just first coming into the squad, he was mature mentally beyond his years – which is why he has performed at the highest level for a long time now, and still does. So, for him, he will just keep working hard.

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“He has been coming back from a long injury in his shoulder that has been niggling him for quite some time now. For him, I think it just about getting back to full fitness, making sure that his shoulder is fully recovered, that he gets minutes on the pitch, that he gets a rhythm.

“I am sure he will take this time over the next week or so over the international period to make sure fitness wise, he is raring to go afterwards. We are talking about a world-class player, here.

“He is very special, he is very special. We have a few special players in this squad, to be fair. But, with Jude, I think we all knew he was a very special player when he first came into the squad.

“The way he trains, the way he lives his life around football, loves the game, wants to improve and there is the ability that he has on the pitch. He is a world-class player and I know there will be a lot of stories and a lot of headlines, but for him, it is just about focusing on football.

“He has been injured for a good few months. I know what he is like, he will be focused on his football, focused on making sure that he is as fit as possible, so when he returns he is flying over the next few weeks.”

It was Tuchel who started the conversation about Bellingham when he said his own mother finds some of the England star’s on-pitch behaviour as “repulsive.”

Then Tuchel said after last month’s 5-0 win in Serbia – which they played without Bellingham – was good because there was “no attitude after a mistake, there was no frustration, there was no waving, there was no eyeballing, there was no bad words.” We will never know if he meant Jude.

But Henderson insists that public perception of Bellingham is wrong and added: “For players, the perception outside…they don’t know. Do you know what I mean? They are guessing. They are making things up, ultimately.

“From the outside, you can never listen to noise or media or things like that, because a lot of the time it can be untrue or it can be misinterpreted – but the players know what Jude is like as a person and as a player.

“He is a world-class player and a world-class person, and he makes the England team. when he plays, even better because of the type of player that he is.”

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