England fans are only just discovering why Jude Bellingham wears the No22 shirt
While most elite midfielders opt to wear no.4 or no.8 on their back, England star Jude Bellingham prefers the No22.
Bellingham, who began his career at Birmingham City before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, has made the number his own in the last few years. The 19-year-old is now considered one of the most exciting young players in the world, with his performances for England at the World Cup only enhancing his reputation.
But why exactly does the marauding midfielder love the No22 so much? Former Birmingham City head of development Mike Dodds explained the reason behind Bellingham's unusual digits in a chat with talkSPORT 2 last year.
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"I actually remember his first session as a seven-year-old," Dodds said. "I thought, 'Yeah he's alright, not too bad'. He didn't stand out. It probably wasn't until he got to 13 where you started to go, 'This boy is very good.'"
"He would have been about 13 or 14 and like most boys that age, they want to be a No10. And I remember, we sat down with him and we said, 'we think you're doing yourself a disservice, we think you can do all of it.
"So we came up with, 'we think you can be a 22'. His eyes lit up and we knew had hooked him from then on in "We said we thought he could be a holding midfielder, or a four. We thought he could be a box-to-box, which is an eight. And we thought he could be a scorer and a creator, so a 10."
The rest, as they say, is history. It didn't take long for Bellingham to make his mark at St Andrews, first bursting onto the scene as a 16-year-old in 2019.
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"And from the age of 13 onwards he has held on to that all the way through and you can see that in his game," Dodds continued. "He made his debut at Birmingham City and he said, 'I want my squad number to be No22' and said the same thing at Dortmund.
"So what I am hoping is that kids are going to look at that and go, 'I am going to be the next 22' and he sets a trend off in terms of being able to do everything."
If Bellingham continues on his upward trajectory, there's every chance we'll be seeing more midfielders wear the No22 in the near future as well.
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