GRAEME SOUNESS: Jude Bellingham has all the attributes to be one of the greats... and that is a term I use very rarely

I bestow the description ‘great player’ very rarely and you will know very well by now that when it comes to midfielders, I apply a particularly fierce critique.

But I say without a moment’s hesitation that Jude Bellingham can be in that bracket. He has the physical attributes and technical ability of Zinedine Zidane — for me, one of the greatest players to have graced Real Madrid’s midfield — but only time will tell if he reaches those heights. His potential seems limitless.

I had never seen Bellingham in the flesh until I was at Hampden for England’s match against Scotland on Tuesday. But as I stood in the middle of the pitch, 20 or 30 yards from him, as part of the Channel 4 analysis team before kick-off, I could see that he has a greater physicality than I did at his age. I didn’t fill out until I was 22, or 23. Bellingham, at 20, already looks the finished article but that physical development is not even complete.

I was on the big side of the scale for midfielders when I played, though I’d be an average-sized one today, when I look at some of the players now.

But while they can assess player quads, lungs, hearts and bleep-test data in infinitesimal detail, please show me the monitor which reveals what goes on inside a player’s head when the going gets tough. Of course, there isn’t one — though that is still the most vital asset you can possess as a human being and a footballer. It’s certainly one that Bellingham has in abundance.

There are many dimensions to his game. He’s a ground-coverer. He has fantastic technique. He has a wise football head on young shoulders, with years of experience yet to accrue. He has that physique.

But it’s the capacity to see three or four steps ahead, something that only the best players