England youngsters pushing Dortmund to new heights

BERLIN, Aug. 14– It might be one of Borussia Dortmund’s special features that a 19- year-old is slipping into the role of his team’s caring father. But Jude Bellingham doesn’t seem to be a footballer measurable with ordinary standards. 41 Championship games for Birmingham and 62 in the German national league has turned the midfielder into an old dog of football.

By Oliver Trust

BERLIN, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — It might be one of Borussia Dortmund’s special features that a 19-year-old is slipping into the role of his team’s caring father.

But Jude Bellingham doesn’t seem to be a footballer measurable with ordinary standards. 41 Championship games for Birmingham and 62 in the German national league has turned the midfielder into an old dog of football.

For a reason, German media call the Three Lions international the Black and Yellows’ chief machine operator.

Bellingham isn’t only conducting his colors game but pushing other youngsters to new heights.

“They are my sons,” Bellingham joked after Borussia’s perfect start after having developed a new and robust team spirit.

The 2021 German Cup winner might have talked about Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Youssoufa Moukoko with a twinkle in his eye but told the truth.

No one else in the club’s squad seems to stand for never expiring ambitions more than the man joining the side in 2020.

While new arrival Anthony Modest, a 34-year-old veteran replacing sickened Sebastien Haller, ruled the headlines over the past week due to his last-minute move from Cologne, Dortmund’s youngsters have taken over.

While 17-year-old Moukoko’s talent first came to light in Hamburg Bynoe-Gittens is like Bellingham an achievement of English football’s talent breeding.

Having scored his first goal in the first tier when Dortmund took a 3-1 win in Freiburg, many compare the London-born striker with Jadon Sancho, who left the club in 2021 for over 85 million euros heading for Manchester United.

“He is a game changer in the original sense. He is one on his way to creating a world-class career as one of football’s best,” head coach Edin Terzic said about the 2022 Under-19 European champion.

Being a substitute, Bynoe-Gittens proved to have developed an encouraging share of ambitions to turn around a game and deliver a more than satisfying performance.

Media called the 18-year-old educated by the FC Reading and the Citizens Dortmund’s second Sancho.

Bellingham remains the force triggering the upswing as he is the role model to follow for his only one- or two-year younger teammates.

“The power of a team isn’t only the first 11, it’s the entire team,” Terzic stated after noting satisfied his side has developed new greediness grounding on the shoulders of Bellingham.

Sporting director Sebastian Kehl said the team’s internal competition has increased, and players show the reaction “we want to see; it’s the players pushing each other initiated by a new atmosphere.”

At the head of the team’s guiding spirit, there seems to be room for further achievements as “father” Bellingham said there is more to come not only in the Bundesliga but on the international stage.

“At present, we might only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his qualities,” coach Terzic said about Bellingham. The midfielder’s leading qualities nevertheless impress his younger teammates as Moukoko and Bynoe-Gittens seem to hang on his every word. Enditem