From Clashing With Tuchel to Becoming Indispensable: Bellingham's England Rebirth

A pat on the backside. That's how Jude Bellingham's night ended on Tuesday at Wembley, after England's 3-0 win over Czechia. The gesture came from Thomas Tuchel, the same manager who just a few months earlier seemed closer to kicking him than congratulating him.

Because it wasn't that long ago, in June 2025, that Tuchel said some of Bellingham's attitudes were "a bit disrespectful," even to his own mother's eyes. It was a brutal line, the kind that can define a relationship. And yet, what we've seen over the last four games is almost the opposite: a player who has found his best form precisely under the manager who questioned him most publicly.

Bellingham was, for a long time, the problem child, the talent with the personality England didn't quite know how to manage. Just look back to Euro 2024: Gareth Southgate included him in the team's leadership group even though he hadn't yet fully established himself with the national team. Sources close to the squad say there were tense moments throughout that tournament in Germany, something Bellingham himself admitted this year when he said "we did some things a little bit wrong off the pitch" and that he felt the group "didn't gel as well as it could have." He even said he became a "scapegoat" despite England reaching the final, where they lost 2-1 to Spain.

The breaking point came last October, when Tuchel decided to leave him out of the squad entirely, citing a lack of minutes at Real Madrid following his shoulder surgery. It was a bold call: benching one of the most dynamic talents of his generation. During that stretch, Tuchel kept emphasizing the "team spirit" and the "brotherhood" being built, while Bellingham and fullback Trent Alexander-Arnold watched it all from the outside.

From doubt to a dream World Cup

Here's the odd part: even before the World Cup there was debate over whether Bellingham should start, with Morgan Rogers performing well as the number 10 and Tuchel praising his work off the ball. Bellingham's answer was to earn the shirt back and become the first English player in history to score seven goals in a major tournament.

Along the way, his relationship with Harry Kane also solidified, going from merely cordial to one of mutual respect. So much so that on Tuesday, Bellingham called him the "best player" in England's history, an opinion shared by the likes of Roy Keane and Gary Lineker, even as many now feel that same label could soon apply to Bellingham himself.

The clearest proof of Tuchel's post-World Cup adjustments came in the 7-0 rout of Croatia in Rijeka, a side that three days later fell just 2-1 to world champions Spain, despite going a man down after taking the lead. Tuchel's assistant, Anthony Barry, explained what changed:

"The structure we now have in the Nations League lets Jude play more off instinct and less locked into one fixed position. It gives him the freedom to roam and operate in the spaces where he feels he can be most dangerous, and so far that's brought out the best in him. It's a challenge, because Jude can play in any of those positions at an incredibly high level. For now, in a small sample, it looks like we've found a way to unlock his full potential. But we have to keep building on it."Anthony Barry

With fullbacks pushing forward, wingers tucking inside, and Bellingham given total freedom to roam the pitch, Croatia were completely overrun. That quartet, Bellingham, Kane, Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon, already looks like England's starting attack heading into Euro 2028, injuries permitting.

And there's something else: Bellingham is enjoying himself again. He wore the captain's armband in the away wins over Czechia and Croatia, which prompted questions to Tuchel about whether that could become permanent. His answer was clear:

"If you're the captain at the end of these games, then of course you can be the permanent captain. I think right now he loves being with us, that's what I feel."Thomas Tuchel

There are small signs that confirm it. At the Fortuna Arena in Prague, dozens of stadium staff waited for a photo with him, and Bellingham took a selfie with every single one of them while English security looked on. In Rijeka, two teenagers waited outside the stadium with a sign saying they loved him, and inside, the 6,200 schoolchildren invited to the match gave him the loudest ovation as the players walked out one by one.

Three wins in the autumn window guarantee nothing on their own, but the post-World Cup changes are aimed at exactly this: more freedom and fluidity so that, when real pressure hits, as it did in the second half of the lost semifinal against Argentina this past summer, the team holds firm instead of retreating. And in that plan, Bellingham looks like he's right at the center of it all.