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Graeme Souness has bizarrely claimed that Jude Bellingham only starts for England because \u2018he plays for Real Madrid\u2019.<\/p>\n
As one of the best young midfielders in the world, Bellingham has established himself as a regular in the Three Lions squad, appearing at Euro 2020 as a 17-year-old.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, he broke into the starting XI and is now considered an integral part of Gareth Southgate\u2019s team, starting the 1-1 draw against Ukraine last Saturday and the friendly with Scotland on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Over the summer, the 20-year-old completed a \u20ac103million (\u00a388.5m) transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Madrid and has made a fantastic start to life in Spain, with five goals and an assist in his first four games.<\/p>\n
However, Souness doesn\u2019t appear to be convinced by Bellingham\u2019s abilities and can\u2019t understand why he gets into the England team ahead of Tottenham\u2019s James Maddison.<\/p>\n
While on punditry duty for Channel 4, Souness was asked about whether Manchester City\u2019s Kalvin Phillips should be starting for England, only for the Liverpool and Scotland legend to strangely change the subject to Bellingham.<\/p>\n
\u2018[Do we need] two holding midfield players? I don\u2019t think he [Phillips] can [be an England regular],\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
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\u2018A few years ago there was Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard \u2013 the \u201cgolden generation\u201d. I think England have a group of players like that now.<\/p>\n
\u2018They\u2019ve come close to winning a trophy and I think this is a team that should be winning trophies, I really do.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m an enouromous fan of James Maddison. I think there\u2019s room for Maddison and Bellingham in this midfield.<\/p>\n
\u2018If you look at Maddison\u2019s numbers, his stats, scoring goals, creating chances -he shoots Jude Bellingham off the park. He\u2019s far better. And yet he [Southgate] is choosing Bellingham because he plays for Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
\u2018But I\u2019ll say that I think there\u2019s room for both of them in that midfield. I think this England team that I watch are playing with the handbrake on. I think this team are capable of more than what they are showing.\u2019<\/p>\n
While Maddison has made a fast start to life at Spurs as well, his two goals and two assists means he is actually behind Bellingham statistically, and the pair did actually start together against Ukraine, though the former was deployed on the left-wing.<\/p>\n