Gary Neville on Jude Bellingham after England's win over Norway: Influence at this World Cup gives me goosebumps

Gary Neville says that Jude Bellingham is England's superstar now and that he has never seen anything like it – claiming his performance gave him goosebumps.

Bellingham scored both goals in England's extra-time win over Norway in the quarter-final of the World Cup, setting up a semi-final clash with Lionel Messi's Argentina on Wednesday. And Neville believes the Real Madrid midfielder had gone to another level.

"He has been absolutely sensational," Neville told Sky Sports News. "Honestly, it gives me goosebumps to watch a performance like that. I don't think I've ever seen an England player have an influence in a tournament like that.

"I was with Gazza (Paul Gascoigne) in 1996, I was with [Wayne] Rooney in 2004, I was with Michael Owen in 1998. I watched those things live and I've never seen anything like this. This is absolutely exceptional. It's at the highest level.

"This isn't England's next superstar. This is England's superstar right now. This is happening. You've got to recognise, this is obviously game-changing.

"You're performing in a World Cup. You scored six goals. You've literally been unbelievable, both in attack and defence. You got your team through almost single-handedly with the support of Harry Kane.

"He's 23 years of age. It is absolutely monumental what that lad is doing.

"My daughters love football. They're 16 and 17 years of age. They absolutely adore him. He is a hero. Every kid in England right now is watching this World Cup and they're thinking they're Jude Bellingham.

"The impact that he is having on young people in our country, on young people around the world in this country that we're in, in the US, it honestly is magnificent.

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"It comes to a point in your career where you either deliver on the highest stage or you don't and your legacy will be determined and defined by that. That's why the great players are the great players.

"That's why I used to sit at right back and look up towards the great players that I played with and have so much admiration for them and be grateful and thankful for them because we were there to serve this type of player that could go and win you the game. It's the hardest thing to do and he thought this was his moment.

"Everybody's sort of looking at him. Everybody's questioning whether he is world class. Even I, going into this tournament, thought that Harry Kane was our only true world-class player and that we had Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham who just sat that bit below where we thought, 'No, you've just got to do a bit more yet. There's a bit more for you to do.'

"He's just gone and done it. He's just gone and climbed that sort of extra step which is a massive step onto what would be that world-class mountain.

"I was talking to Roy Keane and Ian Wright after the game last night and they said, right now, if you're watching football, you're seeing the best midfield player in the world and that's not because he's scoring goals, by the way.

"We don't tend to sort of give flowers too much for the goals. We know we need them but it's the other bits around it that go to make the complete player that gives him the edge."

Disagreement with Tuchel

Bellingham's disagreement with England boss Thomas Tuchel was a talking point in the aftermath of England's victory. Tuchel was critical of the performance, something Bellingham appeared to take exception to in his own post-match interviews.

"I really liked it," said Neville.

"I think when I look back to the previous couple of tournaments, I'm not a great believer in players not doing interviews, particularly when you're the best players in the team. The reason is that you're asking other players to do the interviews for you.

"One thing is for certain, an England player has to do interviews after a football match. If you're the guy that's basically the star player, if you're the guy that's going to go and win us the games, I think you're the guy that's got to go and speak.

"Jude Bellingham, after every single game in this tournament, has spoken. Even after the Ghana draw earlier in the tournament when it wasn't a great England performance, there was a bit of criticism flying around.

"I think there are only a number of players that can make interviews like that, that can punch back a little bit at the manager. He's one of them.

"I liked Thomas Tuchel's interview as well.

"I lived with that for 20 years in the Manchester United dressing room with a manager [in Sir Alex Ferguson] who wasn't always happy when we won and would go out there and sometimes surprise us by what he would say publicly about the quality of the performance when he might have won by two or three in a big game.

"I can live with that as well. I don't mind Thomas Tuchel's interview, but I really loved Jude Bellingham's interview because I think he's taken responsibility on the pitch and off the pitch throughout this tournament. To me, I played with enough great players to know that's what you have to do.

Delivering on and off the pitch

"I will be critical of players who don't stand up and do interviews. I will be critical of players who don't believe that the off-pitch stuff is as important as the on-pitch stuff.

"Players who don't believe the out-of-possession stuff is not as important as the in-possession stuff. I've played with enough great players to know that you can be good in possession and out of possession.

"The doubts before the tournament, which to be fair, the few of us working on ITV here never had. We never thought it was a question of [Morgan] Rogers or Bellingham.

"We thought Bellingham was a superstar, but he had to prove it. He had to prove it on the biggest stage. Being a superstar isn't just about delivering on the pitch.

"I think that interview is one of someone who is completely and utterly comfortable, confident, safe in his own personality and character.

"We've got a game on Wednesday. I think that there may be a little bit made about the Tuchel-Bellingham stuff. That's obviously something that's been going on for 12 months, but Tuchel isn't dropping him.

"Bellingham is also probably respecting his manager for having the guts to actually say it after as well. He may not do now, but in certainly five, 10 or 15 years, when he thinks about excellence and elite performance, he'll recognise that Thomas Tuchel was only striving for more out of the team at a point whereby he believes they can deliver more.

Willing to have difficult conversations

"There's this sort of thinking when you're an England manager, that they're not your players and you've somehow got to make sure you keep them happy. You've got to somehow make sure that you send them back to their clubs happy and you've got to make sure that when they're there, you've got to cuddle them and look after them. Sort of mollycoddle them.

"The only manager that I ever had with England that didn't do that was Terry Venables. He was the best manager I had with England by a country mile.

"I remember he used to take on big characters like Paul Ince or Paul Gascoigne. He would rip right into them at half-time in football matches and they would have a go back. That's when you've got accountability at the highest level where people can be straight with each other.

"What you have is basically, I think sometimes, not just in football but in life, where you have people who are not willing to have the difficult conversations with each other.

"Thomas Tuchel comes out, he's been given an interview, he's not happy with the performance because he knows that team can do better and he knows they'll have to do better to beat Argentina.

"Secondly, he's got a player who wants a little bit of respect for getting to a World Cup semi-final and for the achievements and the effort and the commitment that the players have put in. So for me, I've got no problem with this type of stuff.

"I think it happens. I witnessed it at the club I played for a long time, whereby you have these massive characters and egos and you have a manager who is a ferocious, tenacious, unbelievable winner and sometimes it comes to a head but it's not a problem. It's better to be like that than it is the other way."

"What I liked about that interview isn't just the words that come out of his mouth. It's the look in his eyes. You see the look in his eyes of someone who is fierce, who's completely and utterly determined to go and succeed.

"Now we've got a massive game against Argentina on Wednesday and we know in football, it's knockout football, that things can go wrong but we've got to enjoy him and we've got to enjoy where we are while it's happening.

"I'd like England to be playing better. I'd like them to be combining better. I'd like to see more patterns. But the reality of it is this tournament is a lot about moments. It's a lot about big players turning up and we have that. We really do."

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Gary Neville on Jude Bellingham after England's win over Norway: Influence at this World Cup gives me goosebumps