Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham names two former Sunderland players as his heroes

Brother Jobe is apparently not the only association between Jude Bellingham and Sunderland...

Real Madrid and England star Jude Bellingham has named two former Sunderland players among his greatest football heroes.

The 20-year-old won the prestigious Kopa Trophy at the Ballon d’Or award this week, and he has made an incredible start to life in Madrid since a summer move from Borussia Dortmund.

He already has a strong association with Sunderland with his brother, Jobe Bellingham, a growing presence in Tony Mowbray’s midfield this season. He also accompanied his brother to Wearside personally when Jobe completed his summer move from Birmingham City.

Now, though, he has revealed further emotional links to Sunderland, with former Black Cats midfielders Seb Larsson and Craig Gardner among his football heroes growing up.

Asked by L’Equipe, who were expecting the likes of David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane to be named, who his childhood idols were, Jude Bellingham said: “I admired the players from Birmingham, the team that won the League Cup at Wembley (in 2011).

Would love to have seen the look on the faces of the L'Equipe interviewers having to verify these were actually real players and people https://t.co/7cZxbVD6Lb pic.twitter.com/9IFu6d50FT

— Sean Walsh (@SeanDZWalsh) November 2, 2023

“My heroes were Seb Larsson, Craig Gardner, Lee Bowyer. As I got more into it myself, Dad was the most important.”

The season that Birmingham won the League Cup also saw them relegated from the Premier League, and both Larsson and Gardner found an escape to Sunderland.

Craig Gardner and Seb Larsson during their Sunderland days / IMAGO

They made 303 appearances for Sunderland between them and were generally popular figures among the Black Cats fans as well before leaving in 2017 and 2014 respectively. 

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