Keane waxes lyrical about ‘scary’ England star

Will Ford
Former Man Utd midfielder Roy Keane

Roy Keane says England international Jude Bellingham’s potential is “scary”.

The Borussia Dortmund midfielder is already a big part of Gareth Southgate’s squad and played the full 90 minutes of the 10-0 rout against San Marino on Monday.

The 18-year-old was also a part of England’s Euro 2020 squad and has become a regular for Dortmund in the Champions League and Bundesliga.


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There was a time when young England players were hyped up beyond their potential, but Keane believes Bellingham is the real deal.

He told ITV: “He’s got a great chance, the kid, we love everything about him.

“What he does on the pitch, the way he speaks off it, he’s playing week in, week out for a top club [Borussia Dortmund]. The potential in this kid is scary.”

He continued: “I saw him recently playing in a Champions League game and he was producing passes… I didn’t think he had that in his locker quite yet.

“The potential for this boy, he’s a good size, he’s like a boxer, he’s a strong powerful boy. Gareth [Southgate] must be rubbing his hands.”

Bellingham moved to Dortmund from Birmingham City in the summer of 2020 and has caught the eye of the top teams in Europe with a string of outstanding performances.

Manchester United were keen on signing him before he opted for Dortmund, rolling out Sir Alex Ferguson in an attempt to persuade him in a tour of the club.

United remain interested, along with many others, but Bellingham has said he is happy in Germany for the time being.

Meanwhile, Southgate said he was pleased with the ruthlessness shown by England as they thrashed San Marino 10-0 on Monday.

He said: “We gave a performance that was enjoyable for the supporters that travelled, was clinical in the way we went about it, and then showed some exciting young players coming through.

“Of course we will have much tougher tests but I’ve been involved in nights like this with England that have been horrible, where the crowd were on our backs, where the whole environment was very different.

“It was nice to see young players going in and enjoying themselves and giving a good showing.

“I just like the fact we have got a mentality where we don’t take our foot off the gas and whatever the challenge I have set the players they have responded to it.”