Jude Bellingham's Dominance in Euro 2024

Jude Bellingham is not easing his way into another international tournament. He is grabbing it by the throat.

Handed a starting role as England embarked on their latest campaign, the midfielder has already stamped his authority on the competition. He drove England to a 4-2 win over Croatia in their opener, dictating tempo, demanding the ball, dragging his team up the pitch when the game threatened to drift. When a testing encounter with Panama tightened and nerves flickered, it was Bellingham who broke the deadlock.

This is becoming a pattern, not a purple patch.

With England searching for inspiration, Bellingham and record-breaking captain Harry Kane have become the reference points. Both found the net in a thrilling last-16 victory over Mexico at the iconic Azteca Stadium, a stage that has seen some of the game’s greatest names. Bellingham didn’t just join that conversation. He drove it.

He struck a quick-fire brace in the first half, igniting wild celebrations and swinging the tie decisively England’s way. The noise, the pressure, the weight of expectation – he seemed to feed off all of it. His character has been dissected, his swagger questioned, his celebrations replayed and analysed. Yet it is that supreme self-belief that has propelled the Birmingham-born midfielder into global superstardom.

The “who else?” celebration that lit up Euro 2024 has become shorthand for his mentality: give me the ball, give me the moment, I’ll take it.

Former England midfielder Danny Murphy, speaking to GOAL in association with BetWright football betting, did not bother to dilute the praise. He called Bellingham “a wonderful footballer in terms of his all-round game, athleticism, technical ability, fitness. He's got the lot,” before homing in on the element that truly sets him apart – that rare mentality and belief usually reserved for the game’s most ruthless winners.

Murphy placed him in elite company, mentioning Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen as the kind of level Bellingham is already brushing shoulders with. The comparison is not thrown out lightly. Those were players who walked into pressure and made it look like a familiar room.

Even when England laboured at Euro 2024, Murphy recalled Bellingham as the one forcing the issue. Overhead kicks, towering headers, late surges into the box – when others shrank, he searched for the ball and the responsibility that came with it. In games that drifted, he tried to yank them back.

Murphy admitted he found the pre-tournament debates almost laughable: whether Bellingham should start, whether others such as Adam Wharton or Kobbie Mainoo – “Rogers, etc, etc” as he referenced – might be preferred. The discussion never made sense to him. Not because those players lack quality, but because Bellingham operates at a different height, and has already proved it on the biggest stages.

You do not walk into Real Madrid and dominate a season by accident. You certainly do not do it at his age.

Murphy pointed to that first campaign in Spain as “nothing short of incredible”, a year in which Bellingham adapted, then took charge, in a team built on sky-high standards. If this season has flickered at times, it has been down to injuries, not any waning of talent or temperament.

His view is blunt: if Bellingham is fit, he plays. Anywhere. The role almost becomes secondary, such is his range. He can build from deep, burst beyond the striker, press high, track back. He fills gaps, then creates space where none exists.

What some label arrogance, Murphy sees as a vital edge. The strut, the stare, the celebration – none of it dilutes his output. That is the key. Plenty of players think they are special. Far fewer back it up every three days, in hostile arenas, with the world watching.

“Normally, you get players who think they're amazing and they are amazing but sometimes they walk about and think that scheme should work for them. He's not that guy,” Murphy said, drawing a sharp distinction between ego and entitlement.

When pressed on where Bellingham sits among the game’s modern stars, Murphy highlighted another layer: work ethic. Many great attackers win you matches without ever truly embracing the defensive grind. He namechecked Mohamed Salah as an example of a forward whose lack of defensive obsession is forgiven because of his match-winning brilliance.

Bellingham, he argued, gives you both sides. He presses, he tracks, he closes down, then still has the energy and clarity to decide games at the other end. That blend of relentless work and ruthless quality is what makes him look, in Murphy’s words, “incredible” right now.

He looks like he is enjoying it. He looks like he can win games on his own.

Murphy did not hold back on those who doubted whether Bellingham should even be in the squad, let alone the starting XI. Some articles had gone as far as suggesting he should stay at home. For Murphy, those takes have aged badly.

Those critics, he insisted, “should be holding their head in shame, those guys, and actually apologising publicly.”

England’s tournament is still unfolding. Bigger tests will come, sharper opponents, harsher scrutiny. Yet with Bellingham playing at this level, with this conviction, the more compelling question is no longer whether he belongs on the pitch.

It is how far he can drag England with him.