Jobe Bellingham reveals Sunderland surprise and how Luke O’Nien has helped him since Birmingham transfer

Jobe Bellingham says he couldn’t help but smile when he walked out at the Stadium of Light as a Sunderland player for the first time - marvelling at the ‘unbelievable’ support.

The teenage midfielder, who turned 18 this week, made his senior debut for the Black Cats during their home fixture against Ipswich earlier this month, before scoring his first senior goals in a 2-1 win over Rotherham last weekend.

Bellingham previously played at the Stadium of Light with Birmingham last season, remembering the soundtrack of Elvis Presley song Can’t Help Falling In Love before kick-off. Still, it was a different feeling wearing a red and white shirt with over 40,000 fans cheering for him.

“Because I’ve only played here once I knew it was good,” Bellingham told the Echo after his two goals against Rotherham. “But when you are not here for a while time kind of fades the memory.

“It was still really surprising on the first game of the season and the roar at the start is unbelievable. I love it so much.

“You can see at the start of the game, I can’t help but smile at the start when they are singing my favourite song. It’s something so spectacular.

“You just want to make it so that becomes a habit for fans chanting your name. It’s something you want to hear all the time but it’s my responsibility to make sure that happens.”

While he has predominantly played in midfield during his fledgling career, Bellingham often found himself leading the line for Sunderland against Rotherham.

His double against The Millers showed his goalscoring instincts, with the teenager looking to improve all areas of his game working with head coach Tony Mowbray, as well as first-team coaches Mark Venus, Mike Dodds and Michael Proctor.

Asked if he set any targets at the start of the season, Bellingham replied: “It was just really to play as many games as possible, that’s the first thing, then goals and assists they’ll come.

“It’s just to play as much as I can, be available all the time and perform at the highest level that I can. As well it’s to keep learning because that’s why I’ve come here at the end of the day, to get better.

“They make so many young players so much better here and they help their careers out. They are specialists at it really, great coaches like Doddsy, Proc and Veno, the guys that you don’t see, they really help the young players. That’s what I’m here to do, just get better every week.”

Bellingham also appears to have settled in well at Sunderland, integrating into a young and supportive group.

“Because we are all young it’s much easier to get along with players because you are more relatable, you are more childish I suppose,” he explained.

“It’s been really easy. All the lads are top lad, and then you have players like Luke (O’Nien) who is trying to make me laugh. I say that, he’s the most childish one.

“People like him are really helping me learn about the area because it’s the first time I’ve moved out of the West Midlands, so learning about the area, places to go, where to live, things like that. That’s the things the older boys can help me with.

“I’m really grateful for how I’ve been welcomed by the players and the fans so far.”