Erling Haaland has been texting Jude Bellingham during the World Cup

Erling Haaland has been texting Jude Bellingham during the World Cup as the England star shines in Qatar.

He's enhanced his reputation as a superstar midfielder and remains the subject of intense transfer speculation.

Bellingham added: "We speak every now and then to be fair. Normally when we're both playing it's more often, but it's normally silly stuff to be honest, just if he sees something that makes him laugh or if I see something that we've talked about before we'll send it to each other.

"But it's never like every day, checking up on each other, you know."

Haaland left Dortmund last summer to join Man City, with Bellingham expected to leave the German club in the summer of 2023.

The ex-Birmingham City ace has attracted rave reviews from fans and critics alike, with Gary Neville comparing him to Roy Keane and Steven Gerrard.

"We've become obsessed over the last ten or fifteen years with trying to describe what type of midfielder every midfield player is," he said on Sky Sports News.

"You get put into boxes. You're compartmentalised, you're either a holding player, a box-to-box player or a goalscoring midfield player or number ten.

"This lad can do everything, absolutely everything. They've very unique players. I was in the studio with one Roy Keane that could do everything.

"I think Steven Gerrard could do everything. He could defend, he could pass, he could attack. These are very unique talents in world football and ones that I played with.

"That's what he reminds me of. For me to put him in that category, that is really high praise because you couldn't make me talk any higher about those types of players and their ability to contribute in different areas of the pitch.

"How, at 19, he's delivering it, is the unique part. Roy Keane wasn't delivering it at 19 and neither was Steven Gerrard, it was a little bit later.

"What he's doing now in a World Cup, I've not seen before. It's breathtaking."