Jobe Bellingham earns England call-up as a stylistic understudy to brother Jude, signalling a shift away from Phil Foden and Cole Palmer.

Jobe Bellingham’s first senior England call-up has been met with some suspicion, but the data suggests Thomas Tuchel has identified a specific role for the midfielder. While Morgan Rogers, Morgan Gibbs-White, Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden have all competed for the attacking midfield spot over the past 18 months, Jobe is seen as a stylistic replacement for his brother Jude.

Defensively, the brothers are remarkably similar, with Jude in the 95th percentile for duel-winning across Europe and Jobe in the 77th. In 1v1 defending, Jude leads the group of contenders while Jobe ranks second, with Eze lagging behind in third.

Jobe lacks Jude’s elite attacking output and ball retention, but he matches his brother’s defensive and out-of-possession numbers reasonably well. Fellow first-time call-up Josh King also ranks well for duels and ball-carrying, even finding himself ahead of Jude in those metrics.

Bellingham brothers train together as England eye Nations League games

The inclusion of these profiles points to a clear change in approach from Tuchel, who resisted taking either Foden or Palmer to the World Cup. Palmer offers elite passing and carrying, beating Jude in Ball Carrying and Through Balls, but he scores the lowest of the group in All Duels.

Foden rates significantly lower than Jude in physical areas like Tackle Resistance and 1v1 Defending, perhaps indicating why he has seldom been used centrally for his country. Including players for their technical prowess while ignoring defensive limitations seems to be a thing of the past, confirming that the future is Bellingham: both of them.