“He is captain for England”

Gabby Agbonlahor believes Jude Bellingham could one day become England captain after his remarkable World Cup debut.

Bellingham started for the Three Lions in their opener against Iran on Monday afternoon and scored the opening goal in their eventual 6-2 win.

Not only did the 19-year-old get on the scoresheet, but he also played a key role in England’s midfield throughout the game as Gareth Southgate’s side secured a convincing victory.

Bellingham’s performance was one of many takeaways from the victory, so much so that Agbonlahor believes he can go all the way to the top with the national team.

Speaking at the talkSPORT breakfastthe former striker said: “For his age we had a good view in the stadium of him pointing at other players to do their job as well.

“Someone so young to do this shows he will be captain of the England team one day. He’s a leader at this age, he’s not afraid to tell the older pros what to do, and he just ran the game, didn’t he?

“He got the ball back every time we lost it, he was flying forward, took his goal very well. Before he scored you start thinking, ‘is it time to bring [Phil] Foden on already?’, because we couldn’t break them down.

“He took that goal well and he’s an exceptional player, and I feel like this could be his World Cup.”

Agbonlahor also praised the England team as a whole, which now sit top of Group B ahead of Wales, the United States and Iran, while retaining their status as the favorites of the competition.

“Everyone says ‘you can’t win because you have Brazil, you have Argentina’, we have a team of top players,” he added. “We are winning by four or five and we are lucky to bring [Marcus] Rashford, Foden.

“I was looking down and thinking, Rashford, Foden, Grealish, [Callum] Wilson, he had to go sit down because [Harry] Maguire got injured.

“You still have so much talent on the bench so I feel like people have to start believing that and those who don’t want England to win the World Cup say ‘there’s only Iran’, 20th best team in the world. Don’t forget it’s coming home!

Bellingham’s goal was a milestone for England as it made him the The Three Lions’ second-youngest goalscorer at the World Cup behind Michael Owen.

His rise in football over the past two years has been great to watch and after his performance against Iran, it looks like he is getting better and better.

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