‘I don’t think it is arrogance, I just think it is confidence’
Former Manchester United defender Wes Brown has claimed that England’s Jude Bellingham is the Cristiano Ronaldo of the England squad.
Brown, who played with Ronaldo at Old Trafford for six years, was defending the 21-year-old after he was accused of being arrogant by German pundit Christoph Kramer.
England qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 thanks to an acrobatic 95th minute equaliser from Bellingham followed by an extra-time winner from Harry Kane, but Kramer said of the Real Madrid star: “He has to be careful overall that he doesn’t start getting too cocky at such a young age.”
After scoring against Slovakia, Bellingham appeared to shout “Who else?” as he stretched his arms out in front of the fans and although Brown admits that his attitude could be confused with arrogance, he believes that just like Ronaldo, it is passion.
Speaking on Reach’s brand-new Euro Thrash podcast – which is available to stream on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music, Brown said: “I don’t think it is arrogance, I just think it is confidence. Cristiano Ronaldo had the same thing. He would get a lot of stick early on and he would come in the next day and be like ‘ok, I will prove them wrong’.
“He knew he was going to make mistakes but ultimately would focus on what he’s doing regardless of a missed chance, missed tackle. He would say, ‘This is football and I am just going to get better and better’. Jude shows that.”
Brown also thinks that Bellingham has every right to be confident after that goal as without it England would be out.
“He also shows his frustration at times because he knows he is capable of doing something like that. He’s not been in every game, he’s not been in every moment, but without Jude’s goal, we’re out.”
Despite the dramatic England victory, and the praise he heaped on Bellingham, Brown was critical of the squad as a whole and hopes they “get a rollicking” from Gareth Southgate.
He concluded: “Sometimes it is not your day. I don’t think that was the case for any individuals, it wasn’t any calamities or big, big errors – although there nearly were – but ultimately everyone played the game safe-ish.”
