Birmingham City fans will love what Jude Bellingham has done to his football boots | OneFootball

The ex-Blues midfielder has referenced his Birmingham roots through a new instalment of football boots

Birmingham City's official social media account has been amongst the thousands reacting to Jude Bellingham's latest instalment of Adidas signature 'predator' boots, which have been inspired by the Real Madrid sensation's upbringing in the Second City and West Midlands.

Bellingham's rise to worldwide fame began at the club's Wast Hills academy setup, where he progressed through various underage academy groups before catching the eye of then-manager, Pep Clotet, in the summer of 2019.

Despite being a relative unknown to the outside world at the time, those inside the confines of the club's Kings Norton-based academy and St Andrew's were well aware of the potential which the box-to-box midfielder could fulfil, in particular, the recently dismissed Wycombe Wanderers boss, Mike Dodds, who was a senior figure within the academy during said period.

At just 16 years and 38 days of age, the prodigy broke a 49-year record set by Birmingham's greatest-ever player, Trevor Francis, by becoming the youngest-ever player to don the famous royal blue in a 3-0 defeat to Portsmouth in the first round of the EFL Cup.

It was that particular outing at Fratton Park that, ultimately, paved the way for the England international to become one of European and world football's most talked-about individuals.

Unsurprisingly, such strong levels of fame have led the 22-year-old to sign multiple sponsorship deals, which has seen him feature as the cover star in Electronic Arts' two recent instalments of the popular 'EA FC' video game, as well as partnering with the German sportswear company and revealing two previous 'signature' predator collaborations.

However, a third of those, released on Thursday, have paid tribute to the current Championship side, who still hold a reciprocating affinity towards their former academy graduate whilst looking to reach similar heights on a collective basis.

Bellingham may have been born and raised in nearby Stourbridge, yet B9 is where his rise to stardom officially began.

As previously mentioned, he was thrust into the limelight by Clotet six years ago, making 44 appearances and scoring four times, with his very first against Stoke City seeing him become the second tier's youngest-ever scorer - a feat recently smashed by Jeremy Monga of Leicester City.

After a well-documented breakthrough at St. Andrew's, he would move to Borussia Dortmund for a deal as high as £30m, before Blues landed an eight-figure windfall after his approximate €103m switch to the Santiago Bernabéu in June 2023, three years after they made the controversial decision to 'retire' the number 22 in his honour.

Bellingham has since gone on to become a UEFA Champions League and La Liga winner in the Spanish capital, as well as being named as UEFA's 'Golden Boy' in 2023.

However, he has continuously referenced his gratefulness to Birmingham as a club and the staff in B9 that allowed him to embark on such a rapidly successful journey that also saw him star in England's run to the UEFA Euro 2024 final, which included a stunning overhead kick against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen.

As such, his latest revelation of 'signature' predator boots in conjunction with Adidas includes a nod to his former club with splashes of blue, as well as the insertion of the postcode of St. Andrew's - B9 4RL.

Real Madrid's official account also referenced the link between Bellingham's current and former employers with a caption of: "Made in Birmingham, 100% Real" on top of the star posing with the newly-released boots, with Blues' official account responding: "Once a Blue..." followed by a blue heart emoji.

Jude Bellingham will have a watchful eye on Birmingham City's progress from afar

Of course, given his individual career and main focus of helping Real achieve more dominance in Spain, not all of Bellingham's energy can go into supporting Birmingham these days. However, he has no doubt kept a watchful eye on developments at his boyhood club from afar.

At present, the club are continuously looking to unearth further gems to follow in the footsteps of himself, his brother Jobe - who also moved to Borussia Dortmund this summer from Sunderland - as well as current Leicester City loanee, Jordan James.

Chris Davies' side have made a respectable return to the Championship after a record-breaking season in League One last time out, although some would argue that a current placing of 16th is slightly underwhelming given the investment ploughed into the club by Knighthead Capital Management.

In five years' time, Blues hope to have moved away from St. Andrew's and into a new 62,000-seater stadium as part of a £2-3bn 'Sports Quarter' complex, with the aim of attracting several high-profile stars and sponsorship deals to the club, as they also hope to have returned to the Premier League by then.

As a result, some have debated whether the 44-time international, who was recently omitted from Thomas Tuchel's squad, will return to Blues in the latter stages of his career.