Neil Warnock recounted his astonishment at witnessing a remarkable performance from a 16-year-old Jude Bellingham during a match at Birmingham City. Bellingham, heralded as a promising future star for English football, made his senior debut for Birmingham at the age of 16, setting a record as the club’s youngest ever first-team player. Through his teenage years, Bellingham made 44 appearances for the club and scored four goals before securing a move to Borussia Dortmund in 2020. His subsequent transfer to Real Madrid in 2023 was a blockbuster deal reportedly worth £115 million. Since then, Bellingham has celebrated significant victories with Madrid, including triumphs in LaLiga and the Champions League, establishing himself as one of the top midfielders globally.
Arsenal’s latest young talent, Max Dowman, has also garnered attention, impressing in two pre-season friendlies at just 15 years old. His performance has drawn praise from Gunners manager Mikel Arteta, prompting Warnock to reflect on his own experience with Bellingham while he was managing Cardiff City.
“We talk about age, I remember playing Birmingham with one of my teams,” Warnock shared during an appearance on talkSPORT with Alan Brazil and Dean Saunders. “I said to the central midfield player, ‘Listen, this is your day today son. The kid is only 16, this Bellingham, you bloody just sort him out.’ He never had a kick, this kid, and I’m thinking, ‘You can’t play centre midfield in the Championship at 16, impossible.’ He was something else. In 90 minutes, I came off the pitch thinking, ‘Well, I can’t believe that, what I’ve just seen.’ 90 minutes, he destroyed us and he was 16-years-old. So like you say, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.”
Bellingham is now a key player for both the England national team and Real Madrid. Meanwhile, Dowman has shown promise with Arsenal, recently earning a penalty in a thrilling 3-2 victory over Newcastle in his second pre-season game. Despite his early success, former player Gabby Agbonlahor opined on talkSPORT that Dowman should return to youth matches to continue his development. “Maybe it’s a case of, ‘You know what? You’ve had a little go, you’ve done well. But you’re going to go back to the U18s,'” Agbonlahor suggested. “Play under-18s football, maybe under-23s as well, next season. And maybe we don’t see him next season at all, that’s what I imagine would happen. But, if he is good enough, and Arteta might have a few injuries, he might make the bench for a Carabao Cup game, early rounds, comes on, I’ve got no problem with it.”
Warnock echoed the sentiment that Arsenal must carefully manage Dowman’s progression. “You’ve got to be careful with kids as well,” he cautioned. “15-years-old, the Arsenal lad, it goes to their head no matter what you say. You read the papers… cars, if they’re not careful… They need good guidance at that age, and I’m not sure they get it altogether there for him at the minute.”
On the subject of player management in contemporary football, Warnock remarked, “I don’t think man management is rife now. I think now it’s all data and computers, and what you’re going to do here and what you’re going to do there. I think they miss out on the human element. I think it’s the man management side that will get that extra percentage from these top players.”
