Let no one say that Jude Bellingham’s YouTube series Out of the Floodlights does not contain revelations that will astonish and amaze you.
In the first episode I saw Mark Bellingham, Jude’s dad, smile during a conversation, which was something I thought only happened in dreams. Some fellow writers had to be brought round with smelling salts.
Even if he tends not to express joy when journalists are within a five-mile radius, Bellingham Snr does have plenty to smile about.
His younger son, Jobe, is carving out the beginnings of a fine career for himself at Sunderland, and Jude has started his second season at Real Madrid, after capping a stellar first season by winning the Champions League.
Both his boys are young men he can be thoroughly proud of, not just for what they are achieving on the football pitch, but for the way they behave towards others off it.
Lee Carsley’s biggest test will be getting the most out of Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer
Bellingham has his family to thank for all his success so far and they will remain crucial
Getting the most out of him for England is pivotal and he is still their biggest asset
I would like to see him Palmer behind Harry Kane or Ollie Watkins against Greece on Thursday
If the series illustrates one thing, it is that Jude’s platform for all the success he has had in the game so far is a tight-knit family unit.
It is a huge advantage for any young player trying to negotiate the pressures and scrutiny of a career in the top echelons of the sport, and as Bellingham moves from the wunderkind stage of his footballing existence into being an established superstar, that platform will be as important as ever.
After several years of a rocket-like trajectory through the professional game, sweeping all before him at Birmingham City, Borussia Dortmund and, last season, the most successful club in world football, Bellingham is coping with new challenges, both for Madrid and for England.
In Madrid, he is adjusting to the long-anticipated arrival of Kylian Mbappe, which has changed the star dynamic at the Bernabeu and cemented Bellingham’s use by Carlo Ancelotti in the more defensive midfield role that he occupied for much of the second half of last season.
He has had to adapt, too, to the first signs of criticism from the notoriously fickle Spanish media, who suggested last week, in the aftermath of a surprise 1-0 Champions League defeat by Lille, that Bellingham had ‘declined’ since the arrival of Mbappe. This, by the way, is in the year that Bellingham is one of the front-runners for the Ballon d’Or.
Then there is England. When Bellingham joins up with the national team this week ahead of Nations League matches against Greece and Finland, he will be part of a squad where all the talk and attention will revolve not around him, but the breathtaking form of Cole Palmer.
Palmer is, understandably, everyone’s favourite player at the moment. Some of his performances for Chelsea have been quite superb and have produced a clamour for England interim boss Lee Carsley to play the former Manchester City midfielder in the No 10 role where he has been wreaking havoc for his club.
That, of course, was the position Bellingham occupied during England’s run to the final of last summer’s European Championship, the position from which he scored a brave header against Serbia in the opening game and conjured the stunning overhead kick that kept England in the tournament in the second round against Slovakia.
Lee Carsley is preparing to lead England in Nations League clashes against Greece and Finland
Bellingham has faced criticism from the Spanish press, who think he has struggled with Kylian Mbappe taking the star role
Make no mistakes, though – he is a bona fide member of the footballl elite, a breathtaking star
His younger brother, Jobe, is also making waves at Sunderland, testament to his family’s effort
But England’s performances in Germany were generally uninspiring and so the allure of trying something new, the temptation to say that everything would have been different if only Gareth Southgate had played Palmer from the start, appears to be irresistible.
I’m not arguing against starting Palmer at No 10, by the way. He is a wonderful player to watch, the kind who has the skills and confidence that could help him become one of the world’s biggest stars if his progression continues apace. I’d like to see him play behind Harry Kane or Ollie Watkins against Greece on Thursday night.
But I also think Bellingham deserves a bit more respect. Palmer’s a dream of a player, but so is Bellingham. It is England’s great good fortune that they have both available at the same time. It will be Carsley’s biggest and best test to find a way of getting the maximum out of both of them.
Bellingham has already proved he is a bona fide member of football’s elite. His talent is not fleeting. He was a phenomenon in Dortmund and has been a phenomenon in Madrid.
New players rarely make the impact he made at the Bernabeu. He played among a team of superstars and shone more brightly than any of them. He is still only 21.
He, too, has skills that take the breath away. I only watched a little of Madrid’s game against Villarreal on Saturday, but it was long enough to see a Bellingham dummy from a Luka Modric corner create Madrid’s first goal for Federico Valverde.
There are suggestions that he is struggling with a recurring shoulder problem that is limiting his mobility, but he is still regarded by Ancelotti as an integral part of a Madrid side who remain unbeaten in La Liga after the opening nine games of the season.
The wider issue with Bellingham, in an England context, is that he is so lavishly talented that he could quite easily occupy any number of positions within the team. That makes the temptation to play Palmer at No 10 even stronger.
If everyone is available, it may well be that Phil Foden is the big-name casualty from the team
It is beguiling to imagine Bellingham alongside Declan Rice but allowed to rampage forward
If he drop deeper, it would be tough on Angel Gomes, but the bar should be high to play
The idea of him in a free role behind the striker, and Bellingham using his intelligence and athleticism to return to playing alongside Declan Rice in front of the back four, but with licence to rampage forward and make the beautifully timed runs that are such a valuable part of his arsenal, is a beguiling thought.
I prefer that to trying to shoe-horn Bellingham into a position, say, on the left of the three behind the central striker, if that is the system that Carsley plays. He is too good for that. England need him at the heart of things. They need him to play centrally.
Sure, that would be tough on Angel Gomes, who has been impressive since Carsley promoted him to the senior team. But getting into an England side that has so much talent to choose from should be a high bar.
If everybody is available, for instance, it may be that Phil Foden is left out in favour of Anthony Gordon.
The permutations are seemingly endless, but one thing remains the same — if Bellingham is available, he is still England’s most valuable asset.
Cole a lot smarter than the trolls
Some people, who thought it would make them look smart, made disparaging comments about Palmer’s intellect after a recent television interview. Let me tell you straight away — they know nothing. I was part of a group interview with Palmer during the Euros and he is as sharp and as dry as they come. If other people don’t get his Mancunian wit, that’s their problem, not his.
One other thing — anybody who plays football like Palmer, who has vision like him, who appreciates time and space like him and who anticipates the movements of others like he does, is touched by genius.
Palmer gets mocked for his supposed lack of intellect, but he has wit, vision and genius
Riot shields feel like an admission of defeat
I went to watch Lyon play Nantes in a Ligue 1 match at the Groupama Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Lyon won 2-0, it was a decent game and even though the ground was far from full, there was a great atmosphere.
There was one discordant note though. Whenever a Nantes player went to take a corner at the end of the ground where the most vocal Lyon fans congregated, a pair of security guards stood next to him and held riot shields above their heads to protect him from any missiles that might be launched.
No objects were thrown, but it felt like an admission of defeat.