Former England striker Gary Lineker has said he believes Jude Bellingham could be the country’s “greatest ever” footballer.
The Real Madrid midfielder scored twice — the first player to do so in consecutive knockout stage games at a single World Cup since Diego Maradona in 1986 — in the 2-1 win over Norway which set up a semifinal against Argentina.
Nine of Bellingham’s 12 England goals have been at major tournaments and his six goals in the tournament put him with alongside Lineker [1986] and Harry Kane [2018, 2026] as the only England players to score at least five at a single World Cup.
“I would go as far as to say I think there’s a chance that I think he could well be, or end up being, England’s greatest ever footballer. And that is a big shout,” Lineker told the Rest is Football on Netflix.
“We’ve had some really great players. Some of them have not necessarily done it for their country, others have.
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“Go back to people like Bobby Charlton obviously, I would say would have to be up there.
“You would put Harry Kane in that bracket and there are other players as well, but I think at this age, to be doing what he’s doing and to grabbing England by the scruff and getting them over the line, that is superstar.”
