Jude Bellingham claims he was 'mistreated' during England's Euro 2024 campaign

Today at 01:55 PM

Jude Bellingham believes he was ‘mistreated’ during England’s Euro 2024 campaign in the summer and claims the media ‘crossed the line of respect’.

‘I’ve got to be honest, I lost my smile a lot playing for England after the Euros as I felt I was a little mistreated in comparison to what I contributed,’ Bellingham said.

‘I think it was a bit harsh on me. I felt a bit like the scapegoat. Maybe I felt a bit sorry for myself.

‘I felt like I contributed some pretty big moments, but it felt like the whole world was crumbling down on me, especially in the three days following the final. It wasn’t a nice feeling.

There were a few things that happened during the tournament, I think one of the big criticisms of me was that I didn’t speak to the media and I didn’t want to do any press conferences. That was reported in a way that made it sound like I think I’m above it but it’s not that at all.

‘I had some personal things going on where journalists had gone to see members of my family whilst I was at the tournament, went to visit my grandparents. It’s something I’ve kept to myself.

‘I don’t think that’s fair, it crosses the line of respect. That’s where I took it a little bit personally and decided that I would just focus on the football and try to let that do the talking, instead of talking in the press to people that seemingly don’t respect me.

‘That was a big thing for me. My family comes first, my nan didn’t want to leave her house for the whole summer, bless her.

‘Maybe I should have communicated that so people understood my situation but that was a little bit more personal to me so that’s why I decided to keep my mouth shut.’

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