Jude Bellingham: You love him, I love him, everyone loves him. Other than that one time when Gio Reyna said that he wouldn't want Bellingham to date his sister, the Borussia Dortmund midfielder has as close to a universally positive approval rating as just about any athlete in the world.
So assumed is Bellingham's current greatness -- and even greater future greatness -- that it has almost obscured what the 19-year-old actually is. He's a midfielder, sure, but what kind of midfielder?
Is he a Kevin De Bruyne-type: a "midfielder" who does all the things that a No. 10 did in the past but just from a slightly different starting position? Is he more along the lines of his idol, Steven Gerrard: a havoc-wrecker whose impressive physical range is best employed with other midfielders who cover all the spaces he leaves behind?
Is he more from the Marco Verratti, Thiago, and Joshua Kimmich mold: a modern midfield cheat code who wins the ball at a world-class rate but also contributes as much as anyone in possession, too? Or can he sit in front of the back four and bring some sudden solidity and strength to a midfield that previously fell apart whenever it lost the ball a la, say, Casemiro?
The promise of Bellingham is that he could be all of the above -- at the same time.
