Jordan Henderson has launched a passionate defence of Jude Bellingham, insisting the Real Madrid midfielder is England’s “X-factor” and that criticism of the 22-year-old is largely untrue. Speaking at England’s training base in Kansas City, Henderson said he finds it “hard to read” what is written about Bellingham, who is vying with Morgan Rogers to start as number 10 against Croatia in the World Cup opener on Wednesday.
“I can remember five years ago I gave him his first cap, it was away at Middlesbrough,” Henderson said. “How much he’s grown, as a player and as a person since then, is incredible really.” The 35-year-old, included in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for his leadership, has a close relationship with Bellingham and dismissed suggestions the youngster is a divisive influence.
“Henderson defends Bellingham, calling him England's X-factor amid media criticism.”
“If you ask any player in the group, they’ll tell you how much of a good teammate he is, how well he trains,” Henderson said. “He helps young players, new players, that are coming in. How he was in the pre-camp with Rio [Ngumoha], Josh King, Alex Scott, Ethan [Nwaneri], nobody sees that.” Bellingham was filmed giving 17-year-old Ngumoha his England legacy cap after a match, a gesture Henderson described as giving “a little insight into what he is like behind the scenes.”
Despite being one of the youngest in the squad, Bellingham has 48 caps and is set to feature at his third major tournament. Henderson believes he will have a major impact. “What he gives us is just something really special, he really gives us the X-factor in our team. He’s had big moments in his career, he’s a big game player, he’s got experience in tournaments, so he’s a huge, huge player for us in this tournament.”
Henderson, who turns 37 on the day of the Croatia match, stressed that the negative perception of Bellingham is inaccurate. “I do think a lot of the media and the stuff that gets written isn’t all true, to be honest, or a lot of it is actually untrue. But for us we all know what he can do, and how much we all love him inside the camp.”