Jude Bellingham first showed off footie skills as four year old at nursery
ENGLAND ace Jude Bellingham first showed off his footie skills as a four year old – at a nursery called Twinkle Toes.
The future star raced around the playground booting a ball about already showing signs of his future star potential.
Proud nursery manager Luisa Mead-Blandford, 54, said: “He will have been one of the better ones but that’s no surprise because his dad was a really good footballer as well.
“We are all so proud of him and everything he has achieved.”
Bellingham, 20, has gone on to forge a reputation among Three Lions fans as a twinkle-toed midfielder who can dance his way past defenders.
But it all started almost two decades ago in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
He was one of the first ever kids to join Twinkle Toes nursery in the town when Luisa started it.
She said: “He was one of our very first customers when I opened the nursery and then his brother Jobe joined.
“It’s wonderful to see how he has grown and developed.
“But it doesn’t surprise us because he had that natural ability and he was brought up so well.
“His family are lovely. I remember his mum and dad well, they were always very friendly when they dropped off Jude and his brother and picked them up.”
Dad Mark, 48, was a prolific non-league striker, netting 700 goals by the time he was 40.
He played for 15 different clubs and once described himself as “not very good”.
But it was watching his dad that inspired Jude’s passion for the game in the years after he showed his first natural ability as a four year old at nursery.
The England midfielder said of his dad: “I used to watch him play all the time, it’s where I started to get that love for football.”
As he grew up in Stourbridge Jude developed an outstanding sporting ability not just on the football pitch – he also could have been a star cricketer.
Mark Baker, 71, chairman of Hagley Cricket Club, Worcs, said: “His dad brought him along and he had a couple of years playing in our youth sides.
“You could tell he was a natural-born cricketer from a really early age.
“He was a very good player – especially because he didn’t have a lot of time for cricket because of his football commitments.
“I remember he took a fantastic catch in a youth game. Most people wouldn’t have been able to get near it – but he did.
“He had incredible coordination, it was just raw natural ability.
“If he had focused on cricket, he could have gone far in the game. He’s just a special sporting talent.”
Former cop Mark acts as agent for Jude and his younger brother, Sunderland’s Jobe, 18.
And their mum is equally supportive – she moved to Germany to live with Jude when he signed for Borussia Dortmund in 2020 for £25million making him the most expensive 17-year-old ever.
Instant impact
She did the same when he moved to Real Madrid for £115million last summer.
He made an instant impact in La Liga and in November broke a club record after scoring 14 goals in his first 15 games, one more than club legends Alfredo Di Stefano, who played in the Fifties and Sixties, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Luisa is delighted that one of her former charges at the £79-a-day nursery is now one of the most famous footballers on the planet.
The nursery has posted a snap of him on their Facebook page holding one of the many awards he has won in recent years with the words: “The Nursery of Champions– We are so proud of you Jude Bellingham.”
Luisa said: “I’m not a huge football fan but I do watch Jude play.
“When someone you know is playing then you want to watch it and he is on the television a lot now of course.
“It’s wonderful to see, he is a lovely young man and deserves all of his success – we love him.”