BREAKING NEWS: Birmingham City Released A Statement About Bellingham

Everyone associated with Birmingham City will watch on with pride this evening as Jude Bellingham continues his quest to end a phenomenal season by leading England to European Championships glory.

England’s hopes of winning a first major men’s tournament since 1966 rest on Bellingham’s shoulders. The 21-year-old has enjoyed a remarkable rise in recent years from Blues to Real Madrid, via Borussia Dortmund, and is now one of the most recognisable footballers on the planet.

Bellingham has just completed a remarkable maiden campaign with Real Madrid which saw him win La Liga and the Champions League. He scored 23 goals and recorded 11 assists in 43 matches for Los Blancos and is the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or. Victory at this summer’s Euros would only enhance Bellingham’s chances of winning football’s biggest individual accolade.

While England haven’t set the world alight out with their performances out in Germany, they will reach the final with a victory over the Netherlands in tonight’s semi-final. Bellingham, who has scored two crucial goals in England’s five matches, holds the keys to the Three Lions’ hopes of meeting Spain on Sunday.

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And it all started in Blues’ academy at Wast Hills, where Bellingham was developed and nurtured by the club’s staff before making his first team debut at 16. Kristjaan Speakman, who was Blues’ academy manager at the time, mapped out Bellingham’s pathway once it became apparent that he had a gift few others possess.

Gary Rowett, the club’s manager during Bellingham’s formative years, has explained the lengths Blues went to in order to keep a schoolboy from Stourbridge away from the clutches of European football’s biggest clubs.

Speaking on his podcast, Breaking Lines, Rowett said: “I know the academy director who was there at the time, Kristjaan Speakman, who has played an integral part in that development. He’s now obviously director of football at Sunderland. Jude was around 13 at the time, his brother was slightly younger, and they were both fantastic players. Jude was the one they felt was going to develop quicker but they had high hopes for both players.

“It always fascinates me how you can see how good a player is going to be at that age. As the manager at the time they would say, ‘Look, we need to keep this player at the club’. The only way you’re going to keep them there is by treating them well and hoping they can see a pathway because you can’t sign them to long contracts at that age.

“They used to bring Jude, Jobe and his parents down to the office, sometimes on a match day, to have a chat and that close contact with the manager. Just two young lads, coming down, it was like talking to any other 13 or 14-year-old.

“Then I remember being asked to put a training session on for an hour, for about 12 players but I think specifically with Jude in mind, which not many clubs or managers would do, but that’s how important it was. I’ve been in technical board meetings discussing Jude Bellingham and how we need to shape his development. All of this circles back to how special he was at that age.

“I would say, ‘Really? How good do you think he can be? I’ve been in youth football for a while, how can you tell at that age?’ And he said to me, ‘He will be England captain. That is how good he is. He’s a Rolls-Royce.’

“Fair play to those people that helped shape those early years. You also have to factor in his parents have made some incredibly good decisions for parents to make. There would be a lot of parents at that age that would maybe help the family money-wise, maybe got the kid to a higher level quicker, but I think they’ve had a pathway to get him to the top level.

“You have to have an incredible player, with incredible talent and mentality, but to go to Dortmund and take that step at a club that would give a young player lots of game time to develop, and then go to Real Madrid and play the part that he’s played so far… I wouldn’t claim to have played any part in his development but I’ve certainly seen it close up at a young tender age and how much people rated him.”