BRENT A GOB: This week, Harry Brent’s taking aim at Jude Bellingham and the folks who reckon the media are out to get him – and at the financial disparity in European football
11:46, 19 Nov 2025Updated 11:53, 19 Nov 2025
Harry’s furious in his latest column
Apparently there’s a media agenda against Jude Bellingham – which is the silliest thing I’ve heard since “Arsenal are favourites to win the Champions League.”
The England midfielder threw a bit of a hissy-fit after being subbed off against Albania on Sunday – and the simple act of it being reported sent his sycophantic supporters into the kind of uppity fluster you normally see from sixty-something hippies at a Just Stop Oil protest. You know the kind: all irrational outrage and no logic, a bit like Jurgen Klopp after a defeat.
Granted, the incident – like James Corden – was mostly a big irritant. But if you spend years being an arrogant, crotch-grabbing diva, then people are going to notice this sort of stuff.
Agenda, my arse. For crying out loud, Bellingham’s had more positive PR than Captain Tom, the NHS and David Beckham’s face combined in the last few years.
The fact is, he’s a plonker. A supremely-talented one, but a plonker all the same. And if you think pointing that out is wrong or unjustified then I can’t help you.
Some claim there’s an anti-Jude Bellingham agenda in the media(Image: Getty Images)
Jude is going the way of Meghan Markle. Everyone adored him at first, but if he spends too long being an unlikeable wally then, inevitably, his reputation is going to tank harder than Liverpool’s title defence.
The Prem’s too rich
There’s far too much wealth in English football right now – and it’s a problem that, like Viktor Gyokeres, is a lot worse than it looks from afar.
You might like the idea of the Premier League having all the money. But, as we’ve learned with Peter Drury on commentary, things that sound good can also be a colossal irritant (it’s just a throw-in Peter, spare us your operatic Shakespearean take on it).
You see, Sunderland are reportedly lining up an £80million move for Fermin Lopez, one of Barcelona’s best players this season. Good on ’em. Fair play. Respect the ambition etc.
Fermin Lopez is linked with a move to Sunderland(Image: Getty)
But the idea that a newly-promoted club can stroll in and pinch a superstar from one of Europe’s biggest sides is more backward than Sam Allardyce trying to explain TikTok to a room full of teenagers.
We’re going to kill overseas leagues the way the Glazers have killed Manchester United, with neglect, greed and a level of incompetence that makes Tim Sherwood’s managerial career look respectable.
This isn’t elitism, by the way. I’m not trying to pull up the drawbridge. I’m just saying we shouldn’t celebrate becoming to Europe what Bayern Munich are to the Bundesliga.
Sunderland shouldn’t be able to outspend top overseas clubs simply by being in the Premier League(Image: Getty Images)
Think of it this way: if you buy Mayfair, Park Lane, all three greens and every railway station, Monopoly is great fun… but only for a bit. Once no one can touch you, the game becomes duller and more predictable than an episode of The Rest Is Football podcast.
And that’s what football is. A game. It’s not a business where we should treat competitors the way Liverpool fans treat club legends who fancy spending a few years abroad – by running them out of town.
If we stay on this path – where Burnley are outspending AC Milan and Wolves can offer higher wages than Dortmund – then it won’t be long before European football is like Bonnie Blue: on its knees and losing every last shred of dignity it once had.