Jude Bellingham names three surprise players in the same breath as Zinedine Zidane

Jude Bellingham opened up about his three football icons.

Bellingham has been in the form of his life upon securing a high-profile summer move to Real Madrid.

The Stourbridge-born star has netted 13 goals and registered a further three assists in his 13 games with Los Blancos, including a game-winning brace in El Clasico against Barcelona last weekend.

The England star, who appears to have the world at his feet, has not forgotten his more humble beginnings at Birmingham City, where he came through the ranks to secure a lucrative move to Borussia Dortmund aged just 17.

In turn, Bellingham’s football icons are not the stars of the game, but instead, three players that have played a significant role in Birmingham’s fortunes in the recent past.

Speaking in an interview with L’Equipe, Bellingham cited three players from the club’s 2011 League Cup-winning side that played under Alex McLeish.

Bellingham explained: “I admitted the players from Birmingham, the team that won the League Cup at Wembley.

“My heroes were Seb Larsson, Craig Gardner, Lee Bowyer. As I got more into it myself, Dad was the most important.”

Bellingham then went on to cite some of England’s most high-profile stars at the time, as well as Real legend, Zinedine Zidane.

He said: "Later, my first models were Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard, simply because they played in England. And then when you grow up, you start watching football.

"My dad had a fake Zidane shirt that he had bought on the beach. He took it everywhere, often at home.

"One day I asked him: ‘By the way, who is that guy?’ He replied: ‘Go on YouTube and check him out.’ Since then, I probably haven’t stopped.”

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Topics: Football, Jude Bellingham, Birmingham City, Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.