"I faced Jude Bellingham on his debut at 16, he was exceptional"-Gareth Evans
FORMER Portsmouth player GARETH EVANS had the perfect view of Jude Bellingham’s pro debut as a 16-year-old kid for Birmingham. Here, Evans, now 36, exclusively tells SunSport what he witnessed on that August day in 2019...I had never known there to be such a fuss about a player who had not played a minute of professional football before. We were preparing for a Carabao Cup first-round game and there was a deafening buzz surrounding some 16-year-old lad that was making his first appearance for Birmingham City that night. “He’s quick, agile, has lightning-fast feet and he can pick a pass”, I remember was the memo in our team talk from boss Kenny Jackett. I thought it was all a bit over the top but given that I was on the bench I had the perfect view of what this kid was all about.After five minutes I’d seen enough.His name? Jude Bellingham.You could just tell that he was going to be exceptional, albeit nobody could have predicted what he would go on to achieve.I remember being amazed at