Rooney hails Bellingham as World Cup’s best player so far

Wayne Rooney has put Jude Bellingham at the top of the World Cup’s individual standings, saying the Real Madrid midfielder has been the best player at the tournament so far as England pushed into the quarter-finals. Bellingham backed that judgment with decisive goals in England’s 4-2 opening win over Croatia in Dallas on June 17 and again in the 3-2 victory over Mexico, a result Rooney said was one of England’s greatest ever World Cup displays.

Bellingham’s influence has gone beyond the scoresheet. FIFA’s match report from the Croatia game said second-half goals from Bellingham and Marcus Rashford made the difference, and England’s attack looked sharper whenever Bellingham drove forward from midfield. Against Mexico, he not only scored again, he became the youngest player to reach ten World Cup appearances, doing so at 23 years and 6 days. FIFA also recorded him as the youngest European player to appear in four major international tournaments.

Those numbers have reinforced a larger shift in how Bellingham is viewed. The scrutiny around him has been intense because England have treated him as one of their most important players, and Rooney has been among those closest to the line between expectation and pressure. During Euro 2024, Rooney warned that Bellingham looked frustrated. Now, after a tournament in which Bellingham has repeatedly changed the shape of England’s matches, Rooney’s latest assessment suggests the balance has moved decisively in the midfielder’s favour.

Rooney has long framed Bellingham’s game in the language of match-winners who can alter a contest almost alone, comparing his influence to Steven Gerrard and Roy Keane. That comparison has gained force in this World Cup because Bellingham has not merely occupied space in midfield. He has set England’s tempo, provided the breakthrough against Croatia, and helped carry the side through a tense win over Mexico that kept its campaign alive and extended belief that England can go much deeper. For a player still only 23, the pattern is becoming hard to miss: Bellingham is no longer being cast as England’s next great hope. He is starting to look like its present tense.