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Jude Bellingham says his career arc is evidence of the mindset that anything is possible as the England teenager looks to win it all. From homegrown hero with Birmingham to teenage star at German giants Borussia Dortmund, the 19-year-old midfielder’s inexorable rise shows few signs of abating. There are few more exciting prospects in world football than Bellingham, who has already established himself as a key component for trophy-hungry England and was named Bundesliga Player of the Year after just missing out on the league title. “The goal has always been winning,” Bellingham told the PA news agency. “When you ask me what my biggest ambitions are in the game, it’s to win everything. And I’m not afraid to say that. “You know, everyone should have that goal I feel like as professional footballers. “I’ll do my best to try and make it happen and if it doesn’t then it won’t be because I haven’t worked hard for it. “But, yeah, I’d say records and stuff and individual records don’t excite me like trophies do, so I think that’s the goal for me.” Bellingham, who was speaking before the Bundesliga finale, knows individual honours and records may well come along the years, with England team-mates often suggesting he could break Peter Shilton’s 125-cap record given he has made 24 appearances already. But accomplishments like that are at the back of his mind as he looks to maximise his ability and opportunities. “Football’s my life, really,” said Bellingham, who hopes to inspire the next generation in his role as ambassador for the McDonald’s Fun Football programme – a programme that provides free, inclusive football coaching for children aged five to 11 across more than 1,500 locations in the UK. “I think I’ve put too much into it so far just to stop and accept that I’m going to play at a certain level and only going to win so much. “So, I feel like the mentality that my parents and friends around me have always put into me is go after everything.” That mindset and his whirlwind journey to date means he has little chance to take stock on his career – something he hopes to do with family and friends this summer. “There are things I had to deal with as part of German life,” Bellingham said of the move to Dortmund in 2020. “I probably dealt with that more behind the scenes than in front of cameras and stuff like that, so I’m really grateful that I had such good people around me. “I had good club staff at the time, obviously I had Jadon (Sancho) who was here before me from England and he kind of showed me the ropes and made me feel comfortable. As soon as I was comfortable, really, I just let my football do the talking.” Bellingham has certainly done that, thriving in BVB’s famous black and yellow shirt with his leadership qualities helping him to become the youngest ever player to captain the side. “I think the key to that has been availability,” Bellingham said in a self-deprecating manner. “I think because I’m available a lot of the time it means that I’m on the pitch and I can show what I do every game. Whilst the team around me gets rotated, I’m more of a mainstay. “I think you gain respect from that, in all honesty, and obviously my performance has been good enough to warrant that. “The coach must have seen other things that he likes to give me that responsibility and whenever I’ve played, I don’t think the armband changes me. “So, yeah, you’re taking a little bit more responsibility, but I enjoy it. It’s a beautiful pressure that you want on you that I wanted since I started playing football. “Especially in the Champions League games – it’s the biggest stage, for me – and to have that pressure is really enjoyable.” Bellingham takes a lot of pride in his path from St Andrew’s to Signal Iduna Park. Life in Germany has been eye-opening and his success there has silenced those that attempted to dissuade him from fulfilling his lofty aspirations. When put to Bellingham that he seems to have the mentality that anything is possible, he said: “Well, I think that I am kind evidence of that, really. “I think if I didn’t have that mentality I wouldn’t have been able to get from the Championship to where I’m at now, thankfully, in the space of two or three years. “When you’re saying it three years ago everyone’s calling you naive and telling you that you need to slow down a little bit. “But when you put your mind to it and you work hard at it, it doesn’t seem so crazy when it actually happens. So that’s the goal for me to try and continue to chase my dreams.” :: Jude Bellingham was speaking at a McDonald’s Fun Football session to announce his role as an ambassador for the UK’s largest grassroots participation programme for 5-11 year-olds. Find your nearest free session at www.mcdonalds.co.uk/football Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jude Bellingham determined to inspire the next generation of footballers Leeds confirm Sam Allardyce will not be staying on as manager De Bruyne v Casemiro and Haaland v Varane – The key FA Cup final battles

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Team Renegade, where UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards trains, has told The Independent that Ian Machado Garry was ‘refused entrance’ to the gym because he did not ‘add to the team’s culture’. The gym’s statement comes after Machado Garry told The Independent last week that he was not allowed back at Team Renegade, where he recently trained with Edwards, due to ‘doubts and insecurities’ in the welterweight champion and his coach. Team Renegade said: “Sometimes the coaches allow fighters to come in from the outside, but this is very much a privilege and not the norm. If the coaches feel it’s not adding to the team’s culture, a fighter is refused entrance. Ian Garry’s more nomadic approach to preparation has given him great results, but it’s not in line with what we are creating at Team Renegade. This has nothing to do with one specific fighter or a specific coach.” Machado Garry, who has trained at numerous gyms in various countries in recent times, is ranked 10th at welterweight in the UFC. The Irishman is unbeaten and will fight former teammate Vicente Luque at UFC 296 on 16 December – on the undercard of Edwards’s title defence against Colby Covington. Machado Garry, who turns 26 in November, said in an interview with The Independent on Friday (27 October): “Leon Edwards, his head coach asked me not to come back to Renegade; told me I’m not allowed to train there. “I have to word this correctly, because I don’t wanna be… Firstly, I wanna put out there that Ash and Tom, who run Renegade… I don’t wanna give any negatives without saying a positive. I don’t want any s*** with any gyms. The guys at Renegade… it was a great energy. Tom and Ash were very welcoming, lovely and nice to me. It was nothing to do with them. “Leon and his head coach had an issue with me training on the mats and recently have asked me not to train there, because, ‘Leon doesn’t want any insecurities or doubts on his own mats, within the gym,’ which I don’t fully understand. “I get that we’re both in the top 10 and you might see me as a threat, but I’m not a threat to you right now; I’m not fighting for the title right now. His coach said the words: ‘Ian is a threat, I cannot have Leon having any doubts or insecurities.’ “That makes me think someone is weak minded and can’t have another contender training on the mat. That’s why gym conflict is annoying. For me, why not have that other elite guy on the mat? Why not train with him? Why not have him push you? Why not learn and grow from each other? “It’s very irritating, because I’m a young fighter who wants to be the best in the world, who wants to train with the best in the world, and Renegade is the best gym in the UK. I went there to learn from the guys around Birmingham and who have essentially proven that it’s the best gym in the UK; I didn’t go there to train with Leon, I went there to train with that gym, because they’re amazing. Now I’m being stopped from going to a gym, because I might potentially fight Leon in 18 months. My attitude is: If that’s the case, why not have this conversation in six months? “I love the guys at Renegade. They’re really nice and welcoming, I rang them beforehand to make sure everything was good. Then, after the second day I was there, they were like: ‘Oh, we can’t have you back, Leon and some of his team don’t want this.’” Edwards won the welterweight title in August 2022 with a stunning head-kick knockout of Kamaru Usman, who had beaten the Jamaican-born Briton on points in 2015. Edwards, 32, then retained the title against Usman in a trilogy bout at UFC 286 in March. Edwards was a decision winner against the Nigerian-American in London. The Independent’s full interview with Machado Garry will be available to read later this week. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More UFC’s Ian Garry: ‘Leon Edwards and his coach said I can’t train at their gym anymore’ Ngannou display against Fury the ‘biggest upset in boxing’, claims Hardy When will Conor McGregor return to the UFC? Ngannou display against Fury the ‘biggest upset in boxing’, claims Hardy When will Conor McGregor return to the UFC? The Independent’s pound-for-pound UFC rankings