Thomas Tuchel has praised Jude Bellingham for being a “big player” who “brings his own individual quality to decide football games”.
In Tuchel terms, that is high praise indeed for Bellingham given how loathed he has been to focus on the match-winning qualities of the 22-year-old.
More than once the German has chided those who have questioned him over Bellingham. “Another Jude question?” he has responded when asked about the midfielder.
To a degree that is understandable. English football has come unstuck, more than once, in the past with the cult of the individual. Even a disciplinarian such as Fabio Capello hailed Wayne Rooney as England’s “special player”. Not that it worked.
What is interesting is Tuchel’s insistence that tournaments are not won by teams who rely on creative talents. “Do you have proof of that? Do you have proof of that?” he said forcefully last October when Bellingham – and others such as Phil Foden – were left out of his squad.
But this World Cup has highlighted, again, how game-breakers such as Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to win in Qatar, and Kylian Mbappé, whose France lost that final but are favourites this time, can bend the result through their ability and force of personality. Bellingham can do that.
He has now scored eight goals for England and five of them have come in major tournaments. Nearly every one of them has been a key, game-changing goal. It does not feel like a coincidence and Tuchel’s assistant, Anthony Barry, talked about this World Cup, more than any other, could be a tournament of “moments”. He had Tuchel know that Bellingham can provide those moments.
England undoubtedly have two world-class players in Harry Kane and Bellingham and while Tuchel’s relationship with Kane – not least from when he bought him at Bayern Munich – has never been in doubt it has been far more complicated with Bellingham.
There are two schools of thought about the way Tuchel has handled Bellingham.
One that he has shown his tough love man-management skills to get the best out of him.
The other? That Tuchel created a problem of his own making with a brilliant player who was always going to be vital to England’s hopes of success when he was fully fit.
Tuchel can have no complaint about the debate even if, in some circles, it has been taken to ludicrously extreme lengths including astonishing and worrying demands that Bellingham be left out of the squad.
But once Tuchel said, last summer, during a radio interview that even his own mother found elements of Bellingham’s behaviour “repulsive” then he – and his relationship with Bellingham – was always going to be under constant scrutiny.
Tuchel rightly, if belatedly, apologised but he did double-down on his demands that Bellingham comply to the needs of the team. While praising him after his match-winning performance against Panama there was that consistent insistence that Bellingham “buys fully into” the needs of the team. It is not the first time he has used that phrase.
There have been issues, however minor. Maybe it is Bellingham’s youth, maybe it is his fierce desire to win but – previously – there were suggestions from within the England camp that there was tension and Tuchel picked up on that.
Bellingham’s relationship with Jordan Henderson has remained incredibly strong. There is a school of thought that one reason for the 36-year-old’s inclusion in the squad is not just because of his experience, his setting of standards and the “vibes” he brings, but because of the enormous respect Bellingham has for him.
Bellingham is still very young. He has already earned 51 caps and played in three major tournaments which is incredible. He has also had to do a lot of his growing up in the glare of public and media scrutiny.
It must also be remembered that Bellingham has also endured a difficult season at Real Madrid, where there has been upheaval, a failure to win a trophy – and injury. He underwent shoulder surgery last summer and missed the September camp, when England produced their best performance under Tuchel in beating Serbia 5-0 away in a World Cup qualifier. It set him back.
The cohesion and atmosphere around that squad made a deep impression on Tuchel who then left Bellingham out of the October internationals, claiming he had enough “evidence” to show it was the right decision.
It meant Bellingham has had to work hard to get back in and, maybe also, adapt to what Tuchel demanded and maybe that was required. What has made it all the more fascinating is that Tuchel has pitted him against Morgan Rogers – Bellingham’s close friend – for the coveted No 10 role. Although they both started against Panama.
“I’m not sure if it’s a reaction,” Tuchel said after that win, when Bellingham was again named man of the match.
“But it is what we want from him. He was very positive from the first day in camp. He buys fully into all the things we demand as a team player, and then he brings his own individual quality to decide football games.
“That’s what you see in World Cups now, and what you see from other teams and other big players. We have it in him and he’s a key player. He buys fully into all the things we demand of him as a team player. So well done until now. He needs to keep going.”
Once again Tuchel tempered praise of Bellingham with a key point – it is all part of working as a team. “If we all just play freestyle, no one knows what the other one is thinking,” he said. “So we want to play more in patterns and more in units, and I feel that we get the understanding better and better and better. And Jude is a part of it.”
Sources have suggested that there was a shift around the March international friendlies when Bellingham was called up, even though he was not fit enough to play.
Tuchel hoped to get Bellingham on the pitch but that was not possible but the player did stay with the squad to continue his rehab and the manager was impressed not just by his attitude but how he worked within the squad.
Those games – a defeat to Japan and a draw against Uruguay – also confirmed in the minds of many of the England players that one thing was certain: they needed Bellingham in the team.
Although Tuchel maintained a sense of uncertainty, until the friendly win over Costa Rica in Florida, England’s final warm-up game, it was always in his mind to start with Bellingham. The fact the player sprinted into a tackle just seconds after kick-off confirmed to Tuchel that Bellingham had bought into the ethic.
Tuchel talked about Bellingham being in a “sweet spot” and the hope will be that his handling of him, combined with his fitness, means he will peak at this World Cup.