There is a reason why Jobe Bellingham chose to remove his famous surname from the back of his Sunderland shirt.
Comparisons with a Real Madrid superstar, and arguably the finest all-round central midfielder in world football at present, is something a young talent looking to escape his brother Jude’s lengthy shadow could do without.
Yet, as Jobe blossoms like Jude did in England’s second tier – Bellingham has been tipped for an England call-up himself if he maintains his current rate of progress – the similarities between the two siblings are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Though Jobe is not the only Sunderland player with shades of a big-money Championship export.
Tommy Watson channelled his inner-Jack Clarke as the Black Cats teenager exploded onto the senior stage with a brace in Saturday’s 2-1 comeback victory over Stoke City.
Cutting in from the right onto his left foot, weaving through challengers and carrying the ball with both a poise and a purpose, Watson could hardly have performed a more pitch-perfect impression of the player Sunderland sold to Ipswich Town in a £15 million deal in August.
Tommy Watson labelled Sunderland’s second coming of Jack Clarke
‘[Watson] has made a massive impact, and looks like the closest regen of Jack Clarke you could possibly imagine in every possible way,” EFL expert Ali Maxwell tells the Not the Top 20 podcast, after Regis Le Bris hailed Watson’s work rate as well as the quality of his two goals.
“[Watson is just like Clarke] in the way he receives the ball, the way he carries the ball, the way he takes defenders on. In his shots, his shot volume, and his shot locations, and he scored two great goals.
“The first one was an absolutely brilliant strike into Johansson’s corner and we know it takes a lot to beat [Stoke goalkeeper] Viktor Johansson.
“So exiting for Sunderland. You’ve already got this super young team who is providing their fans with a lot of joy and then you just add in – as if they needed another teenage sensation – Tommy Watson.”
Ahead of Saturday’s nerve-shredding victory at the Stadium of Light, Potters boss Narcis Pelach highlighte similarities between Sunderland and Stoke. While operating at very different ends of the table, both clubs are building on a foundation of youth and potential.
A case in point; the two youngest starting XIs set out by a Championship team across 2024/25 belong to Sunderland and Stoke.
Patrick Roberts played ‘like Lionel Messi’ against Stoke City
“I just find this amazing,” Maxwell adds, hailing Watson, Bellingham and a dazzling Patrick Roberts performance in which he tore through Stoke’s backline like Wearside’s answer to a certain Barcelona legend.
“You have got [Watson] reminiscent of Jack Clarke. You’ve got Jobe – unfortunately for him because he wants to be out of the shadow of his older brother – who does look very much like Jude Bellingham on the pitch.
“And then when Patrick Roberts plays like Lionel Messi, as he does [against Stoke]… I liked it a lot.”
Sunderland host Bristol City on Tuesday night. After ending their seven match winless run, Le Bris will be hoping to build on that Stoke triumph in order to keep the top of the table within arms’ length.