Jude Bellingham believes Callum Wilson is forming an England squad that resembles “Ultimate Team”.
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After winning their opening World Cup game 6-2 against Iran, confidence is high.
Semi-finalists in 2018 and finalists at the delayed Euro 2020, England are one of the favourites to win the tournament. Backed by a huge amount of attacking talent, Gareth Southgate’s side certainly impressed in their first game and are widely expected to beat both the USA and Wales to top spot in Group B.
Wilson, who recorded an assist for Jack Grealish on his World Cup debut, is just one of a number of high-profile names Southgate has at his disposal in attack. Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling all started on Monday, while Grealish, Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden and the Newcastle forward came on. James Maddison is currently injured but provides yet another talented option.
While Southgate has previously been criticised for a perceived unwillingness to cater to his forwards, England are the tournament’s highest-scorers so far. Clearly, there’s a long way to go in Qatar, but the kind of firepower England have will surely be hard to match.
What did Bellingham say about Wilson?
Speaking to the Lions’ Den, Bellingham said: “It’s crazy the depth that we’ve got. You look at the starting forwards: Mason, Raheem, Bukayo and Harry Kane, then you swap that with Wilson, Rashford, Foden and Grealish, that’s like Ultimate Team [a mode on the FIFA video game that allows users to create their dream squad].
“To have quality like that coming off the bench, they could easily start in this team and would start in many other squads … they make my life a lot easier.”
Will Harry Kane be rested for Wilson?
While there was slight concern as to Kane’s fitness after appearing to roll his ankle against Iran, England are understood to be confident their captain will be in contention to start against the USA.
Should England win that, perhaps Southgate will rest Kane for the final group game against Wales, putting Wilson in prime contention to start.
