Birmingham City manager Pep Clotet has sent a message to young Blues' midfielder Jude Bellingham following another milestone for the teenager.

The 16-year-old captained England's Under-17 side as they drew 2-2 with Poland at the Stadion Dolcanu, with Bellingham playing the full 90 minutes.

Taking to Twitter after the match, Clotet wrote: Many congratulations! Great to see our very own @BellinghamJude flying the @BCFC flag & doing such a brilliant job as captain. Keep up the hard work!"

Bellingham bagged his first goal for the Birmingham first-team before the international break, with a heavily deflected effort wrong-footing Jack Butland to help his side to a 2-1 win against Stoke City.

It was a dream debut for the youngster, who had only entered the pitch after 30 minutes to replace the injured Jefferson Montero.

The win left Birmingham in 9th place as Clotet continues his fast start to life as first-team manager, after stepping into Garry Monk's spot in the summer.

This weekend sees them travel to high-flying Charlton as they look to record back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

The verdict

This is great to see from Clotet and shows he has his head straight when it comes to man-managing his players.

Now, however, it will be interesting to see how he utilises the 16-year-old for the rest of the campaign. Does he have the attitude of: 'If you are good enough, you are old enough'?

Or, will he allow him to continue progressing in the club's youth sides, perhaps wary of burning him out at such a young age?

With Montero set to continue his spell on the sidelines, however, he may not have much of a say in the matter.