Jack Grealish has been forced to admit that he was "nowhere near as good" as England teammate Jude Bellingham when he was 18.
The Manchester City star shared the Wembley stage with the Borussia Dortmund ace during the Three Lions' routine 3-0 victory over Ivory Coast and waxed lyrical about Bellingham's talents post-match. After the 18-year-old was named Man of the Match for his performance on Tuesday, teammate Grealish was asked whether he had played alongside a teenager as good as Bellingham, who is the subject of long-running transfer interest from both Manchester United and Liverpool.
"I haven't actually. It is scary how good he is at 18," the former Aston Villa captain, who also hails from Birmingham like the youngster, replied. "He is just so mature. He is built like he is my age at 26. He has so much technical ability and he is mature for his age. I can tell you one thing, I was nowhere near as good at 18. I was at Notts County (on loan from Villa) and I was a scrawny little thing as well.
"You see talented 18 or 19-year-old kids but not many are that mature as he is on the pitch. He is so versatile and can play in many different positions on the pitch. He can be a six, eight or a ten. It was good to play with him and I think it was my first time playing with him. It is nice to play with a fellow Brummie."
The ex- Birmingham City prodigy has cemented himself into Gareth Southgate's squad over the past year and is set to make his 23-man roster for the World Cup in Qatar later this year. Having received heaps of praise since breaking into the senior setup on the eve of last summer's European Championships, Rio Ferdinand has become the latest to demand Bellingham's inclusion in England's starting XI come November.
While not naming a goalkeeper, the former Three Lions centre-back boldly gave his lineup on his YouTube show, Vibe with FIVE. "I'm gonna go three at the back as I think that's our best chance. [Harry] Maguire on the left, Kyle Walker central and Reece James on the right," Ferdinand began.
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" Trent [Alexander-Arnold] at right wing-back and [Luke] Shaw left wing-back. I'm gonna go Declan [Rice] and Bellingham (in midfield). [Phil] Foden in the hole and then two strikers [Raheem] Sterling and [Harry] Kane." Linked with United and Liverpool, the midfielder's price tag could even eclipse the English-record fee that City paid for Grealish, £100million, when he decides to leave Dortmund.
Amid the speculation, Southgate has hinted that Bellingham could be better-suited to a Premier League team rather than staying in Germany, explaining: "The [ Bundesliga ] is definitely a brilliant league for young players and coaches to develop but of course the standard of the Premier League is undoubtedly higher, I think we see that in the European competitions.
"Our top teams are going to be right at the end of the Champions League every year, the financial power of our league is blowing everyone else out of the water so our big teams are going to be the main players in those competitions as they have been in the last years really."
