Jude Bellingham hailed as new Zidane by Premier League cult hero with star ‘easily' comparable to Real Madrid legend
The
4
Jude Bellingham's fiery side has been praised
Credit: Getty
4
He has been tipped to become a Real Madrid great like Zinedine Zidane
Credit: Getty
4
Frederic Kanoute believes Bellingham can hit Zidane's levels
Credit: JAMES RUDLAND
And Frederic Kanoute – who spent seven seasons in LaLiga with Sevilla – reckons there are similarities with the West Midlander and France's World Cup winner.
Not just in terms of their incredible talents but the fact Bellingham also plays on the edge and seems to be one second away from a rough tackle or moment of dissent.
Kanoute, a former striker for West Ham and Tottenham, told SunSport: 'It would be very easy for me to compare him to Zinedine Zidane.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
'He's a fan himself. He took his number five and plays for the same club. And he has a little bit of an edge as well.
'Right now, it's not a full comparison. Zidane has proven everything in football and is one of the greatest in history. But I think it's a good benchmark for him to have.
"I played against Zidane. The ease that he had to go past his opponents effortlessly, and with class and elegance.
'At the same time, this strength of character that he had, and a winning mentality, it was the full package.'
Most read in Football
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS
4
Bellingham, who moved to Spain from Borussia Dortmund for £88.5million in the summer of 2023, has scored three goals in five El Clasicos.
Yet he does have to curb his temperament and was sent off in a 1-1 draw at Osasuna in February – and then served a two-game ban for
New footage 'shows Jude Bellingham in tense standoff with Ancelotti' as Real Madrid boss 'mortally wounded' by Arsenal
Kanoute has no issues with that, however, and he said: 'In any sport, you need to have a little bit of that edge.
'Obviously you need to channel it and he's still very young. I think he'll learn how to channel it, not to cross that line.
'But I think you can see all the top players, they have something as they are always competitive.
'It's definitely something that can be turned into a positive.
'Jude has raised the standard in LaLiga. It only happens a few times that English players go and play in LaLiga.
'His adaptation is quite impressive, especially in
'What strikes me with him is the extreme level of confidence he has, and he has had a very positive impact on the team.
'One of his most positive assets of his game is his mental strength. He's a leader. A natural leader.
'He has all the ingredients to become one of the greats in England and at international level.'
++ Kanoute was speaking as La Liga and Bloomsbury Football opened the Harris Academy in St John's Wood, London. This partnership supports youth football in the UK and ensures players from all backgrounds in London have access to the game.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Rugby-Heavyweights begin 2027 World Cup squad build in Rugby Championship
With two years to go until the Rugby World Cup in Australia, this year's Rugby Championship offers an early glimpse into the plans of the southern hemisphere heavyweights as they start shaping their squads for the 2027 tournament. South Africa and Australia open this year's championship at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday, while Argentina and New Zealand clash in their round one opener in Cordoba later in the day. South Africa are the current world champions and Rugby Championship holders, and look the team to beat again despite a tough two-test visit to New Zealand, including their nemesis Eden Park in Auckland, where they have not won since 1937. The All Blacks swept their three-match July series against an under-strength France and will have eyes on regaining a title they have won for a record 20 times, boosted by facing their bitter old rivals at home. Australia finished their British & Irish Lions series on a high with a victory in the rain in Sydney as coach Joe Schmidt continues their rebuild until he hands over the reins to Les Kiss in mid-2026. Argentina, a threat to any side on their day but also prone to inconsistency, start again as underdogs but with plenty of bite. With the new Rugby Nations Championship to start in 2026, this will be the last southern hemisphere tournament until a likely shortened version ahead of the 2027 World Cup. Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has used close to 50 players this year in easy wins over Italy (twice) and Georgia, but it will be a step up in quality against Australia in tests in Johannesburg and Cape Town in the opening two rounds. Erasmus has continued to innovate tactics and the influence of attack coach Tony Brown on their style of play has become evident. This Springboks side is vastly improved from the one that lifted the World Cup in 2019, and is arguably also superior to the winning side in 2023. But Erasmus admits a concern as to their battle-readiness after their July canter. "You can look at battle-readiness in two ways," he said. "We haven't lost a player to injury, which bodes well for the Rugby Championship, but none of the matches we played were close. "We could pick from a full squad, and we weren't challenged tactically by Italy and Georgia, but those were physical matches." New Zealand may have swept France, but the general consensus is they are still a work in progress for coach Scott Robertson after he took over from Ian Foster following the last World Cup. They have talisman Beauden Barrett back from a hand injury and it will be interesting to see who gets the nod at flyhalf with Damian McKenzie also in the mix, and ahead of the return of Richie Mo'unga next year. "You've got an Aussie team that played some great footy at the back of their Test series (against the Lions)," Robertson said. "You've got the South Africans. We know how strong they are and the Argentinians on their day are so creative. It's a hell of a competition, very tight and just what we need." Schmidt is juggling several injury concerns for Australia, whose last Rugby Championship title came in 2015, but expects the key trio of loose-forward Rob Valetini, lock Will Skelton and prop Taniela Tupou to be fit for Saturday. Flyhalf Tom Lynagh and prop Allan Alaalatoa remain longer-term casualties. Argentina have several injury concerns too, but welcome back Juan Cruz Mallía, Santiago Chocobares, Marcos Kremer, Bautista Delguy, Mateo Carreras and Ignacio Ruiz from the squad that lost their July series 2-0 to an under-strength England.
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Linda Djougang: I was googling 'what is rugby?'
The last time Ireland qualified for the World Cup - as opposed to being guaranteed their slot as hosts - Linda Djougang wasn't entirely plugged in to what was happening. It was only a year later when the future Ireland prop would type the fateful words 'what is rugby?' into Google after failing in her attempt to get her name removed from a tag rugby team-sheet at a finance company where she was interning. Her complete ignorance of the laws of offside notwithstanding, the Wanderers head coach - who happened to be there - liked her hustle and asked if she'd be interested in playing a spot of 'real rugby'. Cue more googling. "It wasn't the plan," Djougang says of her start in the game back in 2015. "I signed up for tag rugby just to make friends with my colleagues at work. The game was cancelled and everyone else removed their name from the list. "But the elite team - at the company - were playing a final and they needed a girl and I was the only one that didn't remove my name from the sheet because I wasn't good at technology. "So, they were like, 'who's Linda? Do you want to play in this tag rugby final?' 'Yeah, why not?' "They were like, 'do you know rugby? Have you ever learned to play rugby?' 'No.' "I spent the whole day at work, googling 'what is rugby?' "I showed up at Wanderers, which became my first rugby club. I didn't know any of the rules. I was always offside. The ref was like, 'if you're offside one more time, I'm going to give you a yellow card.' "Then my friend passed me the ball and I ran the pitch. They were all screaming at me to score. I dropped the ball because I didn't know the rule about grounding the ball. "I got recruited there by the Wanderers manager. She came up to me after that tag rugby and asked if I wanted to play physical rugby. Real rugby. I asked her, 'what was real rugby?' "I ended up playing for Wanderers in Division 4. I got recruited to go to the Leinster trials. Then I went on to Old Belvedere and Leinster and that's where my journey started." Djougang's technological issues have proven fortunate for Irish women's rugby. The Cameroon-born prop - who moved to Rush in North County Dublin at the age of nine - has been a mainstay of the Irish set-up since 2019 and is now closing on 50 caps. She's battled through lean times in the Irish set-up to get back to the World Cup. The early 2020s were a dismal period for the women's game here, dominated by arguments with the IRFU, the low point arriving with the failure to qualify for the 2022 Women's World Cup after losses to Spain and Scotland in the autumn qualifying tournament of 2021. A further nadir was reached with a wooden spoon in the 2023 Six Nations - which was juxtaposed with the men's team's Grand Slam victory in the same year. But things have taken an upward turn since then, following the appointment of Scott Bemand as head coach in the summer of 2023 and the decision to award central contracts to women internationals bearing fruit. Ireland finished the 2024 Six Nations with a rousing win over Scotland to claim third spot. Their recovery was confirmed with a superb showing in the WXV1 in British Columbia last year, with a landmark victory over New Zealand the highlight. Another third place followed at the 2025 Six Nations, even if that campaign concluded on a bum note with a loss to Scotland. "There's so many turning points," says Djougang. "But the main one was the introduction of the contracts, first of all. Also, the fact that we were so successful in Dubai (at the 2023 WXV3). "There's been so much growth with the team. The fact that we've beaten the world champions. We came second in Vancouver. Winning against New Zealand was a massive moment for the players. We finished third in the Six Nations. "We went to Vancouver as underdogs. Now we're definitely not underdogs. And we don't want to be underdogs." It was the pool stage win over New Zealand in 2014 - back in the heady days of the mid-2010s - that propelled Irish women's rugby into the limelight. That guaranteed a semi-final spot in what was then a 12-team tournament, with eventual champions England proving much too strong in the last-four. Back in the World Cup for the first time since the ill-fated home tournament of 2017, Ireland's opening games are against Japan and Spain at Franklin's Gardens before facing off against top seeds New Zealand in Brighton. Navigating the pool is the main priority at this stage. "We're trying not to get ahead of ourselves," says Djougang. "It's so important to get out of our pool. That's the most important thing for us. First up is Japan and we know what they can bring. "We don't want to think way ahead of ourselves because the World Cup is so unpredictable." Djougang has competition in the prop department from Ellena Perry, the former England forward having made her debut for Ireland against Canada last Saturday, after switching her allegience and waiting for the requisite five years. "She's settling in the squad well. She's a quick learner. We love having her, she's challenging us and we're challenging her. We're so happy to have her." Ireland v Japan, Franklin's Gardens, Northampton, Sunday, 24 August, 12pm Ireland v Spain, Franklin's Gardens, Northampton, Sunday, 31 August, 12pm Ireland v New Zealand, Brighton and Hove Albion Stadium, Brighton, Sunday, 7 September, 2.45pm.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Maddison vows to bounce back from ACL misery
Heartbroken Tottenham midfielder James Maddison has vowed to come back from the 'lowest low' after he had successful reconstruction surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Maddison suffered a serious knee injury during Spurs' pre-season friendly with Newcastle in Seoul on August 3. It occurred months after a different knee issue ruled Maddison out of Tottenham's Europa League final triumph over Manchester United in May and despite being set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines during a World Cup year, the 28-year-old promised to silence those who 'mock' his misfortune. 'Lowest low I've ever had,' Spurs vice-captain Maddison said on X along with a picture of him on a hospital bed surrounded by his three children. 'Heartbroken at the fact this injury has occurred at this time in my career. With the Super Cup tomorrow, the Premier League season on the horizon, the exciting Champions League campaign and it being a World Cup year for England it all feels very very cruel but nevertheless the ACL reconstruction surgery was successful. 'To all my close friends and family, your support and love means absolutely everything to me. 'To those of you who have gone out of your way to message on social media platforms in support of me and my recovery even when we don't know each other personally, I appreciate you all more than you'll ever know so thank you. 'And lastly to those of you who doubt, hate and mock. You truly motivate me to levels I didn't know I had inside of me so again, thank you. See you all on the other side.' Maddison is expected to be sidelined for around nine months, but it may take up to a year and a half for the seven-cap England international to return to his previous best level - after he scored 12 times in 45 appearances for Spurs in the 2024-25 campaign. Sports scientist Dr Rajpal Brar, who runs 3cb Performance rehab centres in Los Angeles and Valencia, said: 'This is typically an eight- to nine-month return to play process for elite footballers but also depends on the full extent of the injury. 'For return to pre-injury levels, I'm typically looking around the 18-month mark.'
