Jobe Bellingham's England call-up isn't the first to come under scrutiny, and it certainly won't be the last.
But it is somewhat cruel that the midfielder's first-ever international appearance looks to be met with weary suspicion that it's down to connections rather than what he can actually do on the pitch.
Because the truth is, England could actually do with Jobe Bellingham – despite the embarrassment of riches that the Three Lions have in that area of the pitch.
England have a serious alternative to what Jude Bellingham offers… in brother Jobe Bellingham
Thomas Tuchel has Jude Bellingham as his first-choice No.10. Beyond that, Morgan Rogers, Morgan Gibbs-White, Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden have all competed for that position over the past 18 months.
Each of them offers something a little different to Bellingham: Eze and Palmer, for example, have the deftness of pass, while Foden and Rogers are capable of arriving at the edge of the box for a finesse finish into the bottom corner.
But Jobe is a stylistic replacement for Jude, and the data backs it up: looking at stats courtesy of Gradient Sports, Bellingham the younger ranks third out of our seven candidates for open play shooting – which measures a player's individual execution and decision-making quality relative to expectation – behind Jude and Morgan Rogers.
Jobe is fourth for pressured passes, too, with Jude in second, as they've both picked up a similar level of press resistance from those years of development in the Bundesliga. But it's defensively that they're most similar.
Jude is in the 95th percentile for duel-winning across Europe, with Jobe in the 77th. The Bellingham brothers top our prospective magnificent seven, with Eze lagging behind in third – and in 1v1 defending, Jude again leads, with Jobe in second.
Across the board, Rogers is still the closest to Jude Bellingham in terms of all-round game. When it comes to tackle resistance, Jude leads the group with a score of 92.6 on the scale, but Rogers is the next closest at 82.6. By comparison, Jobe is at 76.1, and players like Eze (64.4) and Palmer (70.6) fall far behind. Rogers is also the clear runner-up in both On-Ball Attacking (78.6) and Open Play (75.1) categories, with Jobe scoring much lower here (65.7 and 69.6, respectively).
While Jobe lacks Jude’s elite attacking output and ball retention, he manages to match Jude's defensive and out-of-possession numbers reasonably well. Incidentally, fellow first-time call-up Josh King ranks well for both duels and ball-carrying – finding himself even ahead of Jude.
What does this mean for Phil Foden and Cole Palmer?
The Bellingham brothers' continued rise and the inclusion of talents like Gibbs-White and King point to a change in tack from manager Thomas Tuchel. Both Phil Foden and Cole Palmer have enjoyed clamour from fans for them to both start for England in the past – but the German resisted taking either to the World Cup.
And digging into the data, both of them represent hugely different profiles to their contemporaries. Palmer offers elite passing and carrying, actually beating Jude in Ball Carrying (79.5 vs Jude's 67.6) and Through Balls (83.7 vs Jude's 77.8). However, he is a poor stylistic replacement for Jude in physical midfield battles, scoring the lowest of the group in All Duels (53.7 vs Jude's 76.0). Foden rates significantly lower than Jude in physical areas like Tackle Resistance (71.5) and 1v1 Defending (64.4), too, perhaps indicating why he's seldom been used centrally for his country.
They're both elite players on their day: more technical and pass-heavy, but less robust in physical duels – and including players for their technical prowess while ignoring defensive limitations seems to be something of the past now, even at international level. A move towards Spain-like schemers that began with the Elite Player Performance Plan in 2012 really is old news now and this confirms it.
The future is Bellingham: both of them.
