In an interview with L'Equipe after winning the Kopa Trophy, Jude Bellingham revealed who his childhood heroes were.

"I admired the Birmingham players, the team that won the League Cup at Wembley [in 2011]. My heroes were Seb Larsson, Craig Gardner, and Lee Bowyer.”

"As I got more into it, dad was the most important. Later, I admired Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard, simply because they played in England. Then I grew up a bit."

"My dad had a fake Zidane shirt that he had bought on the beach. He wore it everywhere, often at home. One day I asked him: 'By the way, who is that guy?'. He replied: 'Go on YouTube and check him out.' Since then, I probably haven’t stopped."

“Zidane was the player I wanted to be. I was lucky enough to meet him during the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool (in 2022). I was like a kid, wide-eyed. He gave off a great presence. And, according to the guys who played with him here, he was a great coach. That is just as important."

Bellingham took over Zizou's iconic number five shirt when he came to the Bernabeu. With 13 goals in his first 13 games, he's really enjoying the shirt.

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