Welcome to the World-Class Club, Jude Bellingham - but don't let it go to your head!

Bellingham has never hidden the fact that he doesn't "lack confidence" - which is a 'humble brag', a polite way of saying that he has the utmost faith in his own ability. That's no bad thing for a footballer, of course. In fact, it's absolutely essential for anyone with designs on becoming the best player in the world - just look at Cristiano Ronaldo, for example. As Shearer told Betfair, "To be a top player, you need to have that something about you, and Jude has got that."

He's also in possession of admirable drive and a ferocious work ethic. He is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve success.

Bellingham felt "drained physically" after the 2022 World Cup quarter-final loss to France, which frustrated him enormously given England had been the better side for the majority of the game, and admitted he needed "a nice, long rest". And yet two weeks later he couldn't wait to get back training, Bellingham more determined than ever before to win a major trophy with his country.

Then, there's the fact that Bellingham is often his own harshest critic. After the France loss in Qatar, he chastised himself for not doing more to prevent England's elimination.

"There was an instance in a later training session where I scored with a shot and I thought, 'That was just like the one that I had in the quarter-final.' If I put the ball more to the left, would we have gone through?" he told FIFA.

"I was involved in second penalty (crucially missed by Harry Kane), when I put the pass behind to Mason [Mount]. I always think, 'What if I'd just put it on Mason's toe and he went and scored?' There would have been no second penalty."

Clearly, this relentless pursuit of perfection partly explains why he's come so far, and in such a short space of time. He is constantly striving to improve. It's not in the least bit surprising, then, that a player that holds himself to such high standards expects others to do likewise. In that sense, he's a little like Roy Keane in that he is incessantly demanding more from his team-mates. However, even the Irishman was critical of the Slovakia celebration.

"If you scored a big goal, to me that wouldn't even cross your mind. You'd be with your team-mates," Keane argued on 'Stick To Football: The Overlap Special'. "Scoring goals is the best part of football, but I just can't imagine that you'd have something in your head to say, 'Who else?' That's the bit where I'd be going, 'Hold on a second'. It's a bit cocky and arrogant.

"Bellingham has to be careful. You're always walking a fine line; you don't want it to seem like it's all about you." Particularly at such a young age.

Keane - who, like Bellingham, was also prone to becoming incredibly frustrated by team-mates - was 26 before he took command of the Manchester United dressing room, and the players welcomed his appointment as captain because he had earned both their respect and that level of authority. He had spent his early years at Old Trafford learning what it took to be leader from the likes of Bryan Robson.

Bellingham, by contrast, was made part of the England squad's leadership group before he'd even turned 21 - despite being previously accused of suffering from delusions of grandeur ever since he broke into the Borussia Dortmund team as a teenager.

There was a suspicion at Signal Iduna Park that he was very quick to take the credit for victories, but utterly unwilling to accept any of the blame for defeats. Some colleagues were said to be so put out by being berated by Bellingham for misplaced passes during games that Emre Can had to take his fellow midfielder aside and tell him that the very public displays of disapproval were simply not acceptable.

We saw similar shows of dissatisfaction in Germany this summer, as England stumbled their way through to the final, with Bellingham quite visibly annoyed at times by the perceived failings of some of his team-mates.

"He was turning round to look at others and throwing his arms up," ex-England captain Wayne Rooney wrote in The Times after the group game against Slovenia. "Body language like that sends a message to the fans, to his team-mates, to the manager.

"I've been in those shoes. I know it's hard. He reminds me of myself in tournaments where you want so desperately to do well and know you and the team could be playing better, and it gets to you. But don’t do something stupid, Jude."

Jude did something special instead, of course, with his spectacular strike against Slovakia in the last 16 saving England from an embarrassingly early exit. He also contributed an assist for Cole Palmer in the final, which only emphasised that this is an immense talent capable of producing big moments in big games.

However, his overall performance in Berlin, coupled with his all-too-obvious on-field frustration, also hammered home the fact that Bellingham still has much to learn. He lashed out at Southgate during the final - and a water cooler after it. Then came the very deliberately timed leaks to the press regarding dressing-room discontent with Bellingham's behaviour.

Bellingham is rightly proud of his combative nature. "The way I was raised in football, you had to have that dog in you a little bit and I go into the games knowing every game’s a war and you've got to be up for it," he previously explained.

"I feel like off the pitch, I'm a nice guy, but when I get onto the pitch, something kind of takes over me, to be honest, I feel like you’ve got no friends out there except the ones wearing the same kit. Anyone who is not wearing that, it's kind of, no beef... but there is something that’s a little bit personal."

The fear is, though, that Bellingham runs the risk of upsetting nearly as many team-mates as opponents. There are obvious signs of Kylian Mbappe-like egotism in his actions, the kind of narcissism that we just didn't see at Euro 2024 from the likes of Bukayo Saka or Jamal Musiala, both of whom had far better tournaments than Bellingham.

"The season he has just played [with Real Madrid], I give him credit for that," World Cup winner Christoph Kramer told ZDF. "But he still has to be careful that things don't go in a really stupid direction. I hope that he reflects on that a bit during the summer break." Unfortunately, that feels like wishful thinking right now.

While Bellingham was apparently hyper-aware of every word written about him during the Euros, he clearly disagreed with all of it. "You hear people talk a lot of rubbish," he told reporters after his wonder-goal against Slovakia. "It's nice when you can deliver and give them a little bit back."

He also quoted former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt in a social media post: "It is not the critic who counts... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood."

He's never the only man in the arena, though. As Spain's triumph in Germany underlined, tournaments are won by the best teams - not the most gifted individuals. Bellingham should already be acutely aware of the fact that one player doesn't always make the difference. Dani Carvajal was effectively Real Madrid's unlikely hero in the Champions League final, and several other England players outperformed him at the Euros.

There's no reason why Bellingham, then, should play or indeed act as if it's all about him, or that he has to do it all himself. There's no need for him to feel as if he has to carry the world upon his shoulders.

Bellingham's self-belief is obviously an attribute. He wouldn't have become a world-class talent without it. But, as Keane says, there's a "fine line" between confidence and cockiness. The former can propel Bellingham all the way to the pinnacle of his profession, but the latter could prove his downfall.

As Roosevelt also famously said, "Keep your eyes on the stars, but your feet on the ground."