Jude Bellingham’s worrying injury blow comes with a familiar sense of dread for England – and could derail Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup blueprint, writes OLIVER HOLT

Uri Geller, Britain’s most famous and most publicity-hungry illusionist and psychic, has been trying to get ethereal messages to Donald Trump in recent months but he may soon decide it is time to turn his attention back to football.

When David Beckham was injured before the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and Wayne Rooney faced a fight to regain his fitness before the 2006 tournament in Germany, Geller mobilised cardboard cut-outs of them to orchestrate mass-healing events.

Both players made it to the respective tournaments but both were clearly well short of full fitness so the jury is out on quite how effective Geller’s intervention may have been. Traditional medicine may have had something to do with their recovery, too.

But now there is another national alarm: England’s preparations for this summer’s World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada suffered a blow on Sunday morning when Jude Bellingham limped off the pitch in tears early in Real Madrid’s match with Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Bellingham is very much the heir to Beckham and Rooney in that he is widely considered to be England’s best player. He may divide opinion when it comes to his attitude to teammates but England’s chances of winning the tournament would be damaged, perhaps irreparably, if he is not in the squad.

The seriousness of the injury Bellingham sustained in the La Liga clash in Madrid is not yet known. It is thought he has suffered a strain to his left hamstring and he was able to walk off the pitch unaided.

The Real Madrid star looked distraught after pulling up and clutching his leg early in the match

It echoed the injury David Beckham suffered ahead of England’s 2002 World Cup campaign

But the fact he left the action in obvious distress in the 10th minute of the game, which Real Madrid went on to win 2-1, has led many to worry that he could have suffered a tear that could keep him out for a considerable time.

At the pessimistic end of the spectrum, Bukayo Saka missed three and a half months of the 2024-25 season following surgery on his right hamstring in the middle of the campaign. He returned in April and played 13 times before picking up another hamstring issue in his second appearance of the following campaign.

England boss Thomas Tuchel has had something of a chequered history with Bellingham – famously mentioning that his mother found Bellingham’s behaviour ‘repulsive’ – and left him out of the squad for the World Cup qualifier in Latvia last year when England sealed their place at the tournament.

But he has brought him back into the fold since then and has been managing his return carefully. Bellingham impressed in a dead-rubber qualifier in Albania even if there was more controversy about his behaviour when he appeared nonplussed by being substituted by Tuchel.

Some will argue with the description of Bellingham as England’s best player and counter that Harry Kane deserves that title. Some might also point to Cole Palmer or Declan Rice. Those are valid arguments but it is hard to argue against the idea that Bellingham brings an x-factor to the England side.

He might be high maintenance – he is the only England player who refuses to undertake press duties and his father, Mark, is considered an aggressive, hostile presence by the FA – but he has the kind of explosive, intuitive ability and natural dynamism that makes him worth it.

Even given some of his misgivings about his behaviour, Tuchel will be hoping Bellingham’s injury is not as serious as it first appeared at the Bernabeu. He showed at the European Championship in Germany in 2024 that he has the kind of big-game temperament that can be critical to his team.

Yes, there is already fierce competition for the number 10 position that he is vying for. The Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers, who is having such a fine season, is thought to be ahead of him in the race for selection in the starting line-up but there was still a general expectation that if Bellingham was fit for England’s opening game against Croatia in Dallas on June 17, he would start.

His injury could be a huge blow for England, given he is one of the nation’s best footballers

Thomas Tuchel has had something of a chequered history with Bellingham but has brought him back into the fold of late, after leaving him out of the squad for a World Cup qualifier last year

That may have changed now. Everything depends on the seriousness of the injury but his availability for England’s friendlies against Uruguay and Japan at the end of next month must now be in serious doubt.

It felt as if those friendlies were more important for him than for many other members of the squad. They would have been a chance for Bellingham to prove to Tuchel that he could be a team player on and off the pitch and to ease Tuchel’s concerns about whether he would be a ‘good tourist’ in the USA, Mexico and Canada.

Maybe the injury will not be as bad as is feared. Maybe it will all be a false alarm. Maybe we will be able to tell Uri Geller to stand down. But the concern over Bellingham is a stark reminder that England’s hopes of winning their first major tournament for 60 years are at the mercy of the fates.