Liverpool fans have been quick to notice that in pictures from the England camp at the World Cup, club captain Jordan Henderson and widely reported top transfer target Jude Bellingham at times appear nearly inseparable.

Now, that has been confirmed as more than just confirmation bias from Liverpool fans seeking out photos with the duo together, as ex-Red and current Everton defender Conor Coady says the Liverpool man has taken Bellingham under his wing.

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“He looks after Jude like there is no tomorrow,” Coady said of the relationship at the World Cup between Henderson and Bellingham. “Jude is a young lad, sometimes we forget that because he is so mature and a fantastic footballer.”

Whether that does anything to sway Bellingham towards the Reds—or whether there’s even any of that in Henderson’s thinking and he’s not just doing a captain’s job and nurturing a young player—is anybody’s guess, but its confirmation of the dynamic.

Not that it’s all serious mentoring between the two, with Coady confirming that Bellingham’s youth does put him in line for a bit of a “battering” at times from Henderson and other more senior members of the England squad.

“There was something the other day when we were having dinner,” Coady added. “Jude is a young lad, but sometimes we forget that because he is so mature, a fantastic footballer. But he said something about his mum making his bed.

“We are talking about Jude Bellingham here. One of the best players in the world. And Hendo sat up at dinner, he went ‘what?’ And Jude went ‘yeah, my mum makes my bed’, so Hendo is battering him.”