Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has confessed he is worried about England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham. The ex-England striker is not happy with Bellingham’s body language and has asked him to keep his frustration in check.
Jude Bellingham Has Not Fired On All Cylinders For England In EURO 2024
Fresh off winning La Liga, UEFA Champions League, and Supercopa de Espana with Real Madrid, Bellingham joined the England camp with a massive reputation. Every Three Lions supporter expected the 20-year-old to lead the charge in EURO 2024, take his country to important wins.
The Real Madrid midfielder started fantastically, scoring England’s only goal in their 1-0 win over Serbia on Matchday 1. In the following two games, however, he failed to live up to his lofty standards. He struggled to get involved, regularly cutting a frustrated figure at the top of the English midfield. As a result, many pundits have challenged Gareth Southgate to shuffle the pack and drop the Ballon d’Or contender from his starting XI.
Wayne Rooney Urges Jude Bellingham Not To Do Anything ‘Stupid’
Unlike many of his peers, Rooney has not asked Southgate to swing his ax. But he, too, is not happy with Bellingham’s showings; more specifically his body language.
Rooney claimed Bellingham’s apparent frustration was not only bad for morale but could also push him to hurt himself and his team. Explaining why he was worried about Bellingham, Rooney wrote in his column for The Times:
“Three or four times in the first half he [Bellingham] could not hide his frustration (against Slovenia). He was turning round to look at others and throwing his arms up. Body language like that sends a message to the fans, to his teammates, to the manager.
“I just hope the frustration doesn’t boil over to the point where he gets a red card or does something stupid and gets himself injured. Against Slovenia, it looked as if he was getting close.”
He concluded the topic, adding:
“There was the time he ran through but the pass was overhit and he slid on his knees off the side, almost smashing into the advertising boards. Frustration. But something like that is so silly — you can injure yourself.”
It will be interesting to see if Bellingham can keep Rooney’s advice in mind when England take on Slovakia in UEFA EURO Round of 16 on Sunday evening (June 30).
