Bellingham and Rogers on each other’s best attributes

Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers may be vying for an attacking midfield position in Thomas Tuchel’s starting line-up in this summer’s tournament opener against Croatia, but they have nothing but respect and admiration for the qualities each other bring.

Both making their name in the number ten position and impressing in that role for the Three Lions in recent years, they are also helping to get the best out of each other.

They also grew up in the West Midlands together and, with Rogers aged 23 and Bellingham 22, they have played in England teams throughout different age groups up to the senior side.

On Episode Five in this summer’s series of Lions’ Den connected by EE, which is available to watch in full on the official England app, they answered a fan question on the attributes they admire most about each other’s game.

On Bellingham’s standout qualities, Rogers said: “The ability to shift to the defensive side of the game. Jude can be a completely different player on any given day. That is the top one per cent, even less, of footballers.

“You can easily say to him, today, ’Their number ten's on it, I need you there’, and it will be seamless. You’ll look at his defensive actions and they’re of a defensive midfielder of the highest level. ‘Jude, we need you to win the game and score two,’ or like in his first year at Real Madrid, ‘we need you to get 20 goals, we need you to be that guy’. That ability to switch, you can’t teach that.

“The other side of it, I’ll watch him not have his greatest game, but puffing his chest out, ‘Come with me’, that’s something you can admire. He can have a tough game but you’d best believe he’s going to have the final say.”

Bellingham similarly highlighted Rogers’ confidence in his qualities, and the ability to produce a moment of magic even if it’s not had his best game.

Bellingham said: “The unshakable confidence [is what I admire]. Especially since he’s gone to Villa, seeing the way he’s like…you know when someone looks like a superstar, he knows what he’s doing. The way someone takes the ball, the way he drives away from a player.

“He looks like a star, and that presence he has on the pitch comes from that confidence. And similar to what he said about me, I’ve watched games of his where he’s not really in the game, but then he bends one into the top corner. That’s what big players have to do. Even if the game’s not going your way, you find a way to make the game in your team’s favour.”

Watch every episode of Lions’ Den connected by EE on the official England app. Download the app and register for free to watch them first.