It was April 2021 when I first wrote about Jude Bellingham on these pages. I had seen him in action a few days earlier, for Borussia Dortmund against Manchester City in a Champions League quarter-final first leg, and had been blown away.
The argument I made about Bellingham was the need for time. He was 17, clearly going places quickly, but I was concerned about expectation being thrust on his young shoulders and I didn't want a clamour to start about him being central to England's ambitions at the European Championship.
'If it was me, I would leave him out of the squad,' I stated.