John Terry said Jude Bellingham must bring out the Zinedine Zidane in him for England to have a chance of winning a second World Cup trophy since 1966.
“Bellingham has got that bit of class; a world-class player. Madrid signed him from a very young age. He’s only gonna get better,” Terry said, adding that Bellingham “reminds me of Zidane, the way he glides around the pitch, he scores and creates goals. I’m excited to see him.” The former England captain made the comments as the squad prepares to start its Group L campaign.
The numbers and the schedule underline Terry’s point. Bellingham is 22, and England open against Croatia on Wednesday before facing Ghana on June 23 and Panama on June 27. Those three fixtures shape the window in which England must establish control of a group many expect them to win.
For Terry, Bellingham is not a peripheral option. “If it’s not [Bellingham] it’ll be Rogers. Do I think Bellingham is better than Rogers? Yes, I do. That’s a good dynamic within the group. Rice, Bellingham, [Harry] Kane and Reece James are pivotal to this groups,” he said, painting a midfield around which England’s attack could pivot.
Context cuts to the selection friction. Club manager Thomas Tuchel has said Bellingham must fight for a starting berth, and Tuchel omitted Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Harry Maguire from his squad choices. Terry acknowledged the managers’ right to pick on form—“I’m in agreement with the managers not picking players in terms of their names and what they bring. He’s put it on the form and stuff like that.”—but he did not hide his own preferences, insisting he would have Maguire in the squad and arguing Bellingham’s performances have warranted inclusion.
That disagreement is the story’s real tension. Terry suspects a relationship issue between player and manager: “There seems to be something between him and Tuchel; not sure what it is. But I hope he has a big impact on this World Cup.” Yet the other, competing message is blunt: Tuchel’s public line places on Bellingham the burden of proving he belongs in the starting XI.
The tension matters because Terry ties England’s tournament ceiling to the midfielder’s role. He praised the attacking options and warned of top opposition, even tipping France to win the tournament for a third time because of their depth. At the same time he reminded listeners that Bellingham is still young, saying simply, “Not yet, but when I watch him, he glides on his feet and carries himself in a way that I love to watch players play football.”
England’s opening match against Croatia on Wednesday will be the first concrete answer. If Bellingham starts and plays like the player Terry describes, England’s game plan will look built around the 22-year-old’s ability to create and score. If he is benched or used sparingly, the selection debate that has shadowed the squad will only deepen and the question of who can supply England’s defining moments will remain unresolved.
The single, sharpened question now is immediate: will Bellingham be in the side that steps out against Croatia on Wednesday — and will he be asked to summon that Zidane-like influence Terry says could lift England toward a second World Cup?
