Jobe Bellingham: more Havertz than Jude
The definitive SCOUTED50 profile on one of the Championship's most coveted youngsters.
SCOUTED50 is our collection of the fifty young talents we believe are best positioned to break into the mainstream during 2023/24. Throughout the season, we’ll be detailing all fifty in definitive profiles.
Read the full list here. Jobe Bellingham came 33rd in our ranking.
This profile was produced as part of a commercial collaboration with SkillCorner, SCOUTED’s official data partner. SkillCorner’s tracking and performance data is used by more than 150 of the world’s biggest clubs, leagues and confederations. Learn more.
All stats correct as of 11/6/2024 unless otherwise noted.
Being the brother of Jude Bellingham must be difficult. Jude’s rise to superstardom has redefined the way people think about young players. His exceptional ability is matched only by an incredible maturity; he’s gone from Birmingham to Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid in four years; he is the leading name of football’s emerging generation.
That’s why his little brother goes by his first name only: Jobe. He wants to make that name for himself, as Jude has done for Bellingham. He wants to forge his own career beyond the shadow of his familial ties — but the Bellingham hallmarks are there for all to see.
“He’s an absolute diamond. He just loves football and wants to get better. He tests the coaches every day. He’s got a real growth mindset. At 17, it’s unbelievable. Where he can be in five years’ time, I’m not sure, but I’m really pleased with him. His greatest asset is that he wants to learn.”
Like his brother, Jobe started his career in the junior system of hometown club, Stourbridge, before being picked up by Birmingham City. Like his brother, he made his senior debut as a 16-year-old under Lee Bowyer. Unlike his brother, he didn’t go on to be a regular starter and have his squad number retired upon his departure after a single season. Instead, Jobe’s minutes largely consisted of substitute appearances until a run of four starts closed the 2022/23 season.
Then came last summer, a monumental period for the Bellingham family. As Jude sealed his career-defining €100+ million move to Real Madrid, Jobe signed for Sunderland in more modest surroundings.
The move was facilitated by Kristjaan Speakman, Mike Dodds and Stuart English. All three knew Jobe and his family from their time at the Birmingham academy, before they were poached by the ambitious Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, and they brought their protégé with them for a reported £1.5 million fee.
Jobe’s first season at Sunderland has been defined by change. Managers, players, systems, ambitions – you name it, it’s changed. That will tend to happen when a squad is largely made up of inexperienced U-23 players in a league like the Championship.
The club cycled through three different managers in four separate stints: the very respectable Tony Mowbray was booted out and subsequently replaced by the recently-sacked Rangers coach Mick Beale in December, who was duly sacked a couple of months later. Mike Dodds filled the subsequent interim periods.
On the pitch, the framework was constantly shifting with a rotating cast of young players coming in and out every week as each manager chopped and changed in search of the functioning formula. Almost every combination was tried throughout the campaign, from back threes to fives to fours to twos.
But Jobe was near enough a constant. Only four outfielders – full-back Trai Hume, centre-backs Daniel Ballard and Luke O’Nien, plus local lad Dan Neil – played more minutes than his 3,755 across all competitions. None made more appearances than his 47 either, as he played all but one league game.
In this profile:
Family ties — a distinctive ‘Bellingham’ physicality
A commanding, adaptable midfielder…
…and a powerful, running number nine, in one package
Is he the new Kai Havertz?
How high can he go?
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