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One of Gareth Southgate‘s great strengths since taking over as England manager eight years ago has been uniting a squad that was previously divided.
England’s ‘Golden Generation’ from the 2000s have regularly admitted there were cliques in camp when they got together, with club loyalties getting in the way of building team spirit.
That is no longer an issue for the Three Lions as everyone appears to be singing from the same hymn sheet, and that is particularly the case when it comes to the bromance blossoming between Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The pair – who both have model girlfriends, with Bellingham currently in a relationship with 25-year-old Dutch influencer Laura Celia Valk, while Alexander-Arnold, 25, is dating British actor Jude Law‘s daughter, Iris, 23 – have been inseparable at the Euros and their connection is only growing stronger on the pitch.
They started together in England’s midfield for their opening game of Euro 2024 against Serbia on Sunday, and Bellingham proved to be the star of the show as he netted the only goal to hand his side all three points.
After nodding home Bukayo Saka‘s cross from close range, Bellingham, 20, peeled away and celebrated with his team-mates.
But as the rest of the players jogged back for the restart, Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold stayed behind to unveil their new joint-celebration.
Both men got down on one knee as they covered their faces with their hand. Bellingham later explained that is was a reference to the game of Wolf – or Werewolf as it is also known – a popular pastime within the England squad.
It is a card game that requires deceit and strategic thinking and is based on a game of a game of roleplay and deduction called Mafia created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986.
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It sets a small informed group – the ‘wolves‘ – against the uninformed majority, also known as the ‘villagers’. Each group then tries to deceive the other in order to win, and the game is believed to have had a hand in inspiring the hit BBC One show The Traitors.
Bellingham told the BBC: ‘When we play Wolf, one of the staff loves that face when he doesn’t have a clue what is going on so that was a little group celebration for the Wolf crew.’
England’s players have been playing Wolf since around the time of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which is also where fans really started to take note of Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold’s friendship.
Bellingham was quickly developing into England’s star player as the tournament got underway, and speculation was ramping up over his club future as he looked certain to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season.
Liverpool and Real Madrid appeared to be in pole position to land his signature, and some fans were convinced Alexander-Arnold was doing his best to get Bellingham over to Anfield when the duo went for a stroll together in Qatar.
Alexander-Arnold insisted he was ‘just going out with a mate’, but he was subsequently dubbed ‘Agent Trent’, with the two players never far away from one another during England’s time in the Middle East.
They were spotted together again after the tournament ended just a few months later as they attended a Chris Brown concert together.
But if Alexander-Arnold was trying to persuade his friend to join Liverpool, he was ultimately unsuccessful. Bellingham chose Real Madrid, and it could not have worked out much better, with the attacking midfielder winning LaLiga and the Champions League in his first season.
And now the tables may have turned, with supporters recently accusing Alexander-Arnold of ‘flirting’ with Madrid after naming two of their club legends as his dream dinner guests.
Having picked Reds icon Steven Gerrard, the right back-turned midfielder went with Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo to complete his list.
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Alexander-Arnold has just one year remaining on his Liverpool contract, and with Jurgen Klopp now gone, he could be considering a fresh challenge away from his boyhood club.
Should that be the case, Bellingham may well be having a word in his ear out in Germany, and the two men have certainly been spending plenty of time together in training.
Ahead of England’s clash with Serbia, Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold were seen perfecting a new hilarious handshake routine, which left defender Ezri Konsa smiling in the background.
They were then all smiles as they shared a joke on the training pitch, before producing the goods in England’s opener in Gelsenkirchen.
Bellingham took the game by the scruff of the neck, while Alexander-Arnold showed glimpses of why Southgate is keen to get him into his team, even in an unfamiliar midfield role. And, of course, the night was capped off by their eye-catching celebration.
They recreated it in training on Tuesday, with fellow midfielder Declan Rice playing photographer to capture the moment, and if either man gets on the scoresheet against Denmark on Thursday, we are likely to see the celebration again.
Questions have been raised over Alexander-Arnold’s ability to play in midfield against top-level opposition, but Bellingham leapt to the defence of his team-mate after Sunday’s match, claiming ‘people talk a lot of rubbish’.
Southgate has a big call to make on whether to stick with Alexander-Arnold. If he does, we can only expect the link-up between Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold to get even better, as they are clearly on the same wavelength.