As is the case at Academy level, Bell tried a number of different positions before making the central-midfield role his own, as he says: “I think one of the aspects that the coaches liked was my ability to play in different positions.
“I’ve played across the midfield, I’ve dropped to right-back a couple times, I’ve played in a range of positions during my trial.
“My preferred role is box-to-box, so someone who gets back, defends, hits big tackles, but also someone who is in and around the opposition box trying to score goals. I scored in the first game this season, but I would definitely like to join the attacks more and make sure I’m getting back on the defending side as well.”
Currently in the Premier League, 50% of all captains are midfielders. What comes with captaincy is a lot of responsibility – Bell is well aware of that and constantly trying to deliver at both on and off the pitch.
“Captaining the side slowly came about. Towards the end of last season I was playing much more, I was doing well. In pre-season I was with the Under-21s quite a lot, and then when I came back to the Under-18s I tried to be a leader.
“When we went up to the Manchester Tour [in pre-season] and I think that was probably the turning point. I was captain for the first game against Bayern Munich, we won 1-0, and since then everything’s sort of clicked. The team is doing well and we’re all bonding really well, which you can see in the results. It's a good team to be around and to be captain of that is really good.
“There is one captain in the side, but there is also a leadership group. There's about five of us, a mix of first and second year Scholars. It just helps facilitate different views instead of it being one person. I think it’s really good, as it gives a wider view and helps the team come together.”
