Bellingham has overcome the hostility he faced from the press and pundits to become the emotional and symbolic focal point of the England national team that participated months before the start of the FIFA World Cup. The familiar chorus of hatred that has followed Jude Bellingham since his emergence on the international stage grew louder, as a number of writers, pundits, and former professionals questioned whether one of England's most talented footballers might harm team harmony.

The clearest expression of these arguments appeared in an article published by the Daily Mail in November 2025 under one of the most shameful headlines in English football history: 'Leave Jude at home.' Amid a wave of criticism directed at Bellingham, Ian Wright felt compelled to defend him on an episode of the Stick to Football podcast. As soon as his statements were clipped, they quickly spread across the football social media ecosystem and beyond, due to Wright's candidness and to place the hostility directed at Bellingham within the historical tradition of policing black men's behavior. Wright said: 'A person like Jude, for some reason, scares these people,' before adding: 'It's something I learned as a black man.'

There were, of course, tangible footballing transgressions that placed Bellingham on an inevitable collision course with the established order of English football. His first 'mistake' was seeing Birmingham City retire his shirt number before he turned 18. His second mistake was rejecting England's elite clubs in favor of Borussia Dortmund, then Real Madrid paying an initial fee of €103 million (£88 million) to acquire him, entrusting him with the number 5 shirt worn by Zinedine Zidane.

Throughout, Bellingham appeared completely devoid of the insecurity that consumed many English footballers abroad. But Bellingham's success in Madrid was rarely treated as a source of English pride; rather, it was read as an implicit challenge to the Premier League's claim to being the pinnacle of football. He has returned to us belonging already to the wider world.

While these factors partially explain the hostility that Bellingham provokes, Wright's account of why it is read this way is ultimately more compelling. There is a cultural specificity to Bellingham's comportment, which, although familiar to many Black Britons, is read elsewhere as an aggravating factor. When I was a child, my aunt insisted that I walk with my shoulders back, head held high, so that I could project an image of myself that others might refuse to imagine. As an adult, I learned that this advice was a repetition of the words she first spoke to herself after arriving from the Caribbean to a community that told her she did not belong.

We do not know whether Bellingham received similar instructions – perhaps we are simply witnessing the unwavering self-belief of one of the best footballers in the world – but given how common this form of cultural inheritance is among Black families, it is entirely plausible that he did.

English football repeatedly searches the emotional terrain of its history for meaning, obsessed with its solitary triumph and the countless moments of 'almost.' It also returns to the players it recognized itself in: Bryan Robson, David Beckham, and Paul Gascoigne.

Perhaps none proved as enduring as the latter. Jack Grealish was briefly chosen as his spiritual successor, and before Euro 2020, Phil Foden dyed his hair the same peroxide color that Gascoigne wore at Euro 96, deliberately placing himself within the same lineage. Bellingham reveals the limits of this process of recognition. England has long crowned exceptional Black players.

And while it is irresponsible to insist that a single footballer is capable of resolving the tensions that often place Black identity and English identity in apparent conflict, it is clear that Bellingham sees no contradiction between them. Perhaps his significance lies in showing those who come after him that they need not see any contradiction either.

Author of 'A New Formation' and founder of 'Carico' magazine, and a writer for the British newspaper The Guardian.