- Wayne Rooney is concerned about Jude Bellingham’s frustrated’ demeanour
- He also identifies three England stars who threw younger ones under pressure
- LISTEN to It’s All Kicking Off! EUROS DAILY: Why a wave of negativity is sweeping through England’s rivals
Wayne Rooney has revealed his concern about Jude Bellingham‘s frustrated body language at Euro 2024.
The former England and Manchester United star feels that Bellingham is sending the wrong message to his team-mates, manager, and fans.
Rooney feared that the 20-year-old was close to letting his frustration ‘boil over’ to the point where he could ‘do something stupid’ during the 0-0 bore draw with Slovenia.
Moreover, he has a bone to pick with Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford, and Kyle Walker after they failed to front up to the written press after the game, leaving pressure on younger stars Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer.
‘Three or four times in the first half he [Bellingham] could not hide his frustration (against Slovenia). He was turning round to look at others and throwing his arms up. Body language like that sends a message to the fans, to his team-mates, to the manager,’ Rooney wrote in his column for The Times.
‘I just hope the frustration doesn’t boil over to the point where he gets a red card or does something stupid and gets himself injured. Against Slovenia, it looked as if he was getting close.
‘There was the time he ran through but the pass was overhit and he slid on his knees off the side, almost smashing into the advertising boards. Frustration. But something like that is so silly — you can injure yourself.’
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Rooney points out something we all need to remember – Bellingham is only 20.
While this is his third major tournament with the Three Lions after Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, he is still relatively new to the scene and learning how to handle the pressure of being an international phenomenon.
Rooney thinks it is ‘strange’ that the Real Madrid hero does not do written media interviews as he ‘should be taking responsibility’ due to his status.
It’s something that Ian Ladyman and Craig Hope discussed on a recent episode of Mail Sport’s Euros Daily podcast, suggesting that Bellingham would benefit from developing a closer bond with journalists as that will help him to communicate more with fans.
In his column, Rooney added that Kane, Pickford, and Walker should have fronted up to the questions of the nation after a lacklustre showing against Slovenia.
He wrote: ‘We should have seen Harry, Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker and other senior players fronting up.
‘Instead it was Anthony Gordon doing the press, it was Cole Palmer doing bits — and this was after all the stuff at the end, when fans were throwing beer cups at Gareth Southgate.
‘It’s then that you need your senior lads to be in front of the microphones, calming everything down. The young ones handled themselves well but, when one loose word can make the situation worse, it was a lot of pressure to put them under.’