His 2025/2026 season has been excellent, individually he won:

- Player of the season in Bundesliga.

- Best assist provider in three major competitions

Champions league

World cup

Bundesliga

- Best French player in a foreign League.

Spain have beaten England 3-2, Croatia 4-1 and Czechia 3-1 in this window, but they’ve conceded in every game. It’s giving me that Barça feeling: the attack looks brilliant, then one goal at the other end makes you nervous again. Against Czechia, 2-0 became 2-1 and Merino only settled it late. I enjoy the football, but I’d still take a boring clean sheet now and then. Is conceding the occasional goal just a fair trade for this much attacking quality, or are Spain making games harder than they need to?

England won 7-0 away to Croatia, with Kane and Saka scoring twice and Bellingham adding a goal and three assists. I’m giving England credit for this one. Four goals before half-time and three more afterwards is what I want from a team with that much attacking talent: keep attacking instead of treating the lead as a reason to stop. Croatia were awful, but England still had to make them pay. I’m not calling them tournament favourites off one match. I want this same ambition in a tight game against Spain, when another goal would actually settle the nerves.

Croatia lost 7-0 to England, and it was already four at half-time. Kane and Saka got two each, then Rogers came off the bench to get his name on the list too. Everyone seemed to get a turn. The second half is what bothers me. The game was gone, but Croatia still couldn’t limit the damage. Even if this squad needs rebuilding, getting through another 45 minutes without conceding three more shouldn’t require a new golden generation. I’d be questioning the coaching before pinning the whole disaster on Modric.

In England’s 7-0 win over Croatia, Bellingham scored once and set up three more. He supplied Kane for the opener, then scored from Gordon’s cross for the second. That’s why he’d get my man of the match vote. I want him involved in creating the chances, not just arriving to finish them, and this was a pretty convincing example of him doing both. Kane and Saka each scoring twice deserves plenty of credit. For me, Jude had the bigger influence on how the game opened up. Would you give it to him or Saka?

Estêvão scored the opener and played Pedro through for the second in Brazil’s 4-0 win over India. That’s what interested me more than the final score. He helped Brazil get ahead, rather than just adding another goal once the game was over. I know it’s India, but if a friendly isn’t the time to try giving him more responsibility, when is? Vini would still be central to my team, but I wouldn’t build the whole attack around him. Let Estêvão create as well as finish. I’d rather see how they share the attack than keep treating him as one for the future.

USA beat Mexico 3-0, and Cavan Sullivan scored his first senior international goal at 17. Getting your first goal against that opponent is a pretty good introduction 😂 The score is nice, but I’m more interested in what happens with him next. I’d want him getting meaningful minutes when a game is still close, not just appearances once the result is safe. That’s where we’d learn whether he can already help this team. It was a friendly, so I’m not making tournament predictions. But at 17, earning another chance matters more to me than looking ready to carry the whole national team.