Jude Bellingham earns maiden England call-up as 17-year-old replaces injured James Ward-Prowse in Gareth Southgate’s squad

Jude Bellingham has been called up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the first time in his career.

The Borussia Dortmund midfielder, aged just 17, was promoted from the Under 21’s squad after Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse pulled out with a minor hamstring injury.

The call up to Southgate’s side rounds off what has been an incredible rise to the top for the talented midfielder, who only made his professional debut for Birmingham in August last year before joining Dortmund for £25million in the summer. 

Since his arrival in June, Bellingham has featured 11 times in all competitions for the German side – with five of those coming from the bench. 

The youngster has made his chances count and has produced a series of solid displays – including scoring on his debut in September against Duisburg in the DFB-Pokal first round, which saw him become Dortmund’s youngster ever goal scorer.

The teenager has impressed Southgate enough to see him get the nod in favour of Leicester City duo Harvey Barnes and James Maddison as well as Aston Villa’s Ross Barkley who were all in contention for a call-up after recent fine form in the Premier League.

England are due to face the Republic of Ireland in a friendly on Thursday, shortly followed by clashes against Belgium and Iceland in their next set of crucial Nations League games.

If Bellingham were to feature in any of these fixtures he would become the third-youngest England player ever – behind Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney.

Making history isn’t anything new to Bellingham. Besides being the most expensive 17-year-old in football history, it was only in September when the former Birmingham man became England U21’s youngest ever player when he came on as a substitute against Kosovo.

Since his appointment as the Three Lions boss back in 2016, Southgate has handed England debuts to 40 players. So,  it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see Bellingham become the 41^st during this international break.

By Liam Davies