An analysis on midfielder Jude Bellingham, who looks set to join Manchester United

(A thread)

Jude Bellingham is a 17 year old midfielder currently playing for Birmingham and has been linked to the likes of Dortmund, Chelsea and Manchester United

His most likely destination seems to Manchester United so here is a thread analysing the midfielders best attributes and traits

Jude’s role is as a box to box midfielder and he tends to roam between attack and defence giving an output for both, his on ball ability such as his passing range and control allows Birmingham to process from defence to attack

He also has a very big physical presence which allows him to carry the ball up the pitch almost like a Pogba or a kovacic which allows Birmingham to tactically enhance there game if needed according to the game as it goes on

This heatmap shows that he’s tends to sit a little deeper and pick up the ball to be able to drive at the opposition which Birmingham have used a lot to their advantage this season, he can cut passes through channels extremely well which is why he sits that bit deeper

Another part to Bellingham’s game is his movement, not necessarily in an attacking sense but when he’s in the deeper role he is very good at losing his marker with a forward run which disrupts the opponents shape

This means that gaps are opened in the oppositions shape and other players are then able to exploit that space which Jude had created by dragging the opposition player

He is currently averaging 4 dribbles in the ongoing campaign with a fairly success rate of 58% which is very good considering his age and the fact that it’s his first campaign in professional football

In comparison to other footballers (best seasons):

•Paul Pogba (18/19) - 5 dribbles a game 62% success rate

•Kevin De Bruyne (19/20) - 5 dribbles a game 64% rate

•Ngolo Kante (16/17) - 3 dribbles a game 69% dribble success rate

Jude also has an impressive attacking output finishing 55% of the actions he makes out of the 72 he averages but it’s still one of the key parts of his game he needs to improve on

Jude has also managed 4 goals and 2 assists in 24 games in the league this season, these have mostly come from his running from deep into the latter stages of the opposing half’s and is a good output for a box to box midfielder

In comparison to other midfielders with similar GP:

•Wijnaldum - 3 goals 0 assists (25 apps)

•Kante - 3 goals 0 assists (22 apps)

•Gundogan - 2 goals 1 assist (25 apps)

Moving onto the defensive side of judes game, due to his big physique he is extremely difficult to get passed winning 65% of his defensive Dules as whole which means more likely than not he is going to stop the opposing player

He is currently averaging 3.1 tackles a game (a very good turnout) which in comparison to other players this seasons such as:

•Ngolo Kante - 3 tackles per game

•Fred - 2.3 tackles per game

•Wijnaldum - 1.7 tackles per game

Jude mainly likes to press higher up the field almost into the 10 role to be able to win the ballon back and is averaging a 62% defensive output in the opposing half showing the type of agressive player he is

Another asset to Bellingham’s game is his passing ability especially the way he likes to move the ball forwards with 55% of his passes in a game going forwards most of which are into the opposing half

His pass completion rate in the league this season is at 82% which ranked amongst other midfielders shows:

•Paul Pogba - 90% PC

•Mateo Kovacic - 91% PC

•Wijnaldum - 90% PC

Room for improvement but this could be due to the risk element of Bellingham’s passes

Jude is also extremely versatile, due to his pace and off ball movement he has been deployed in many roles this season such as:
LM (9 apps)
CM (7 apps)
RM (3 apps)
DM (4 apps)
ST( 2 apps)
AM (2 apps)
In all competitions...

This shows that at such a young age he has been able to adapt himself to all these different positions and mould himself into the perfect midfielder that can do all jobs

In conclusion you’ve got to remember this boy broke onto the scene at the age of 16 and has been playing week in week out in one of the most competitive leagues in the world

Once he cleans up some parts of his game there is no doubting he will be one of the best in Europe, any club would be ahead with him in the team

End of thread, I hope you enjoyed and RT’s are appreciated