The Better Young Talent – Bellingham or Rooney?

on November 25, 2022 at 12:15 pm

As the Three Lions continue their World Cup campaign we have seen the emergence of a new wonder boy in English football.

We are of course talking about Jude Bellingham. The 19-year-old has been a sensation at club level for Birmingham City and now Borussia Dortmund in Germany. His performances have earned him a call up to the England team from manager Gareth Southgate. The young midfielder was brilliant in England’s 6-2 win over Iran as he scored the teams opening goal of this World Cup.

Bellingham’s incredible level of play for his national team has got us wondering who the better young talent is – Bellingham or a young Wayne Rooney?

We caught up with former Celtic defender Alan Stubbs who gave us his opinion on who was better as a young prospect. He also gave us his thoughts on Arsenal under his former teammate Mikel Arteta. Check it out below!

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There’s a lot of young English talent such as Bellingham breaking through of late. How do they compare to Rooney when he broke through at Everton?

Wayne Rooney is the best young talent that there’s ever been. Wayne had the hype around him from 16 years old, he broke onto the Premier League at 17 and performed all the way through until he was 32 years old. We have to remember that he carried Man United towards the end.

When you look back on his career, for me, he’s one of the best English players that we’ve ever seen. There’s no doubt about that.

Your former teammate Mikel Arteta is thriving at Arsenal. What was he like as a player in the dressing room?

Mikel has really surprised me. In the changing room, he would definitely have an opinion, there’s no doubt about that. He wanted the team to play in a certain way and he wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion about that.

I always thought of Mikel as being a good coach but since he’s got over the sticky early stages of his time there, he’s been given time and the club are reaping the rewards of that now because he’s doing a very, very good job.

Could you always tell he was destined for the top as a manager?

I always thought Mikel would’ve gone on to be more of a coach than a manager. The one thing that he’s always had is that he knows what he wants and he’s known how he wants his teams to play. I can imagine Mikel being very demanding.

We’ve already seen what happens when a player doesn’t do what he wants [with Aubameyang]. If you’re not the right personality or you’re not prepared to tow the line then, the fact that the club backed him in this particular situation, probably really pleased Arteta.

Working under Pep Guardiola definitely helped Arteta deal with the Aubameyang situation because looking at the situation, Guardiola would’ve dealt with it in exactly the same way.

How similar is the Ronaldo x Man United situation to the Arteta x Aubameyang one?

The Ronaldo situation was never going to have a happy ending and I don’t think Man United dealt with it as well as they should’ve done because one minute he’s walked out at a game and then the next he’s made captain, it doesn’t set the right precedent.

If you compare that with how Arsenal dealt with Aubameyang, Mikel moved him away from the first team unless he changes his attitude – that doesn’t change so he’s gone and that’s exactly the right way to to do things.

Ronaldo will be happy that he’s left. Man United need to rebuild and it’s clear that he wasn’t a part of that rebuild.

Do you think Postecoglou could be the perfect fit at Everton if Lampard were to leave the club?

Ange Postecoglou is a name that Everton would consider but he looks very happy at Celtic right now. He’s already stated that he’s got unfinished business and I’m not too to sure if he’d want to leave Celtic just yet. He knows that the more he keeps winning, the more his stock will rise so he doesn’t look in a rush to get to the Premier League.

Besiktas aren’t going to make Dele’s loan permanent. Where does his future lie?

Dele doesn’t have a future at Everton. It’s a strange situation because I don’t think I can ever remember a player fall off a cliff as quickly as Alli has. I don’t know what’s gone on in his private life but to go from being an England international to not be anywhere near that level is really bizarre.

I personally feel sorry for him because something has gone drastically wrong. He’s still got plenty of years left in him but he looks like he’s lost the love for football.

Is Roy Keane a more fierce pundit than he was a player after the spat with Souness?

Roy Keane was a fantastic player and I think as a pundit you’ve either got to come up with talking points or not be liked and I think Roy fits under that bracket because he’s got an opinion and he’s not afraid to say it. Roy and Graeme Souness just have two different sets of opinions. It’s a healthy discussion but I don’t think there’s any love between the two of them [Roy and Graeme] and that came across more than anything they were saying.