Jude Bellingham, the young talent

Jude Bellingham is a professional footballer who is already making big strides in the game. 

Born in Stourbridge, the West Midlands, he joined Birmingham City as a young boy and became the Championship club’s youngest ever player when he made his debut in August 2019 at the age of 16 years and 38 days.

He went on to make 44 appearances for Birmingham that season scoring four goals, and his talent was so obvious that bigger clubs began to eye him. Manchester United assiduously courted him giving Bellingham and his parents a personal tour of their training ground, conducted by no less a figure than Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, in the end, he plumped for Borussia Dortmund, because the German side had already acquired a reputation for giving young English talent an opportunity.

Jadon Sancho had left the Manchester City academy to join the Bundesliga side three years earlier and has already developed into a player valued at more than €100 million.

True to their word, Dortmund has given Bellingham lots of first-team chances this season and he has rewarded their faith, becoming an integral part of their midfield. 

And, although he is still only 17, he is already a full England international, having made his debut as a substitute in a World Cup qualifier against San Marino last month.

He is an outside bet to make the England squad for the European Championships later this summer, which, for those who like a flutter, will offer interesting betting opportunities through operators like 22bet – see here for further details. 

On Tuesday, though, Bellingham was involved in a controversial incident playing against Manchester City at the Etihad in their Champions League quarter-final first-leg tie. Chasing a ball played back to the Manchester City goalkeeper Edinson, he raised his foot and just appeared to get to the ball first. He then ran on and rolled the ball into an empty net.

He turned to celebrate with his teammates, only to find to his dismay that the goal had been ruled out by the referee for a foul on Edinson. To make matters worse, when he protested he was booked for his troubles.

Unfortunately, VAR could not intervene, because the referee had blown his whistle first. 

Replays, though, clearly showed that the officials had got it wrong. Bellingham did get there first and the goal should have stood.

Arguably the match officials were distracted by the antics of Edinson, who, realizing he had made a mistake, fell to the ground as if he had been injured.

City won the game 2 -1 with a late winner in injury time, with the second leg to come next week back in Germany. Bellingham and his teammates will be hoping that the “goal” that never was does not come back to haunt them, otherwise more questions will be asked of the standard of match officiating.

The game, however, did end on a lighter note when assistant referee O #ctavian Sovre raced after Bellingham’s teammate, Erling Haaland in the tunnel afterward and asked for his autograph.

The Norwegian was surprised, but duly scrawled his signature on the bit of paper proffered to him.