Jobe Bellingham reveals why he only has first name on shirt after Dortmund move
Jobe Bellingham has just moved to Borussia Dortmund and, like at Sunderland, has opted to have his first name on the back of his shirt after being urged to do so by a former coach
Jobe Bellingham claims he only dons his first name - and not his surname - on his shirt because he thought it would be "cool to have my own name" as he claimed there was no "deeper meaning" behind it.
Bellingham has continued the trend by having Jobe on the back of his Borussia Dortmund shirt having also done it at Sunderland. It was his exploits with the newly promoted Premier League outfit that earned Bellingham his switch to Germany this summer.
His last game for the Black Cats saw them win promotion from the Championship in the play-off final at Wembley. He's since made a £32million switch to the Bundesliga outfit and scored his first goal for his new club on Saturday as he found the net against Mamelodi Sundowns in a 4-3 victory in the Club World Cup.
Not opting for the traditional last name on his top, Bellingham has gone with Jobe, which he's done since leaving Birmingham for Sunderland after a coach suggested he do it.
He told FIFA: "Well, if I'm being really honest, obviously, it started when I first signed for Sunderland. I, maybe, thought about it a few times. I thought: 'Yeah, that would be quite cool.' But, only when people brought it up to me. I never thought about it like spontaneously on my own.
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"Someone close to me would say: 'That would be cool if you did that'. And then, someone who's quite special to me – a coach that I had at Sunderland and at Birmingham when I was a kid – he said: 'Why don't you do that at Sunderland?' And, just because I was young, I thought: 'It would be cool to have my own name on the back of my shirt'. So, it was more that than anything (else).
"I wasn't really trying to have a deeper meaning behind it, but I suppose you can find that in that act. But yeah, I think it's quite unique and it's quite cool, and it's something that I enjoy having."
His switch to Dortmund has inevitably drawn comparisons with brother Jude, who went from Birmingham to the German side. He thrived and eventually moved on to Real Madrid. Despite following a similar path the Dortmund new boy insists he is not simply copying his brother as he underlined his desire to be his "own man".
He said: "I don't really care how it looks, but it might look a bit contradictory to some people. I was perhaps being biased against Dortmund for a very long time, because I have anxieties and fears and you want to be your own man, but I don't think I should let those stop me from making the right decision.
"So for me, it was about choosing the right path, not necessarily a different one. I don't think my path has been the same as Jude's at all."
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