Two of the best attributes in earth football do battle on Wednesday evening, when Enzo Fernandez and Jude Bellingham satisfy at Signal Iduna Park.
In the blue corner, Argentina Planet Cup winner Fernandez will be earning his Champions League debut for Chelsea pursuing his British record £106million shift from Benfica last month.
When in the yellow corner, Bellingham will after all over again spearhead Borussia Dortmund’s midfield as he seems to be to further more impress forward of his have probable huge summer months transfer.
Fernandez and Bellingham could truly be lining up collectively next season, with Chelsea one of the clubs interested in signing the England star.
But on Wednesday evening, they will go head to head, so how do they look at? Discover out the verdict from Sportsmail’s David Coverdale underneath…
Chelsea created £106million Enzo Fernandez the fifth-most pricey player at any time in January
While Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham, 19, could transfer for an even greater fee this summer months – and forward of their meeting on Wednesday night time, Sportsmail operates the rule more than the star pair
Expertise
Bellingham is still a teen but has presently racked up an astonishing 161 senior appearances in club football. It is no surprise his Dortmund manager, Edin Terzic, describes him as ‘the oldest 19-calendar year-previous participant in the world’.
He created his debut for Birmingham as a 16-yr-previous and played 44 online games in his a person total period with his boyhood club right before moving to Germany.
For Dortmund, he has showcased in 117 matches, which includes 23 in Europe, with all but two of those coming in the Champions League. Bellingham also has 22 England caps.
At 22, Fernandez is three years Bellingham’s senior but he has performed much less to start with-workforce video games – 115 in overall.
He built his River Plate debut aged 19 in the very same 2019-20 period that Bellingham built his bow. Fernandez performed 51 online games for the Argentine side, and a more 33 matches on loan at Defensa y Justicia, right before switching to Benfica past summertime.
In his fifty percent a year in Portugal, he racked up 29 appearances, which includes nine in the Champions League. Fernandez, who has 10 caps for Argentina, signed for Chelsea very last month and has featured in their final two game titles.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WINNER: BELLINGHAM
Bellingham is far extra skilled than Fernandez after breaking by means of at Birmingham
HONOURS
Fernandez by now has the finest honour in soccer to his identify soon after winning the Globe Cup with Argentina past 12 months, scooping the award for the tournament’s best younger participant in the system.
He also lifted Argentina’s Primera Division title with River Plate in 2021, as perfectly as professing equally the Copa Sudamericana and Recopa Sudamericana in the course of his personal loan spell with Defensa.
Bellingham, in the meantime, has less honours on his CV. He received the DFB-Pokal – the German Cup – with Dortmund in 2021 but has not yet landed everything even bigger, obtaining claimed a runners-up medal with England at Euro 2020.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WINNER: FERNANDEZ
But Fernandez has the edge in phrases of silverware just after profitable the 2022 Qatar World Cup
ATTACKING Attributes
Bellingham has netted 24 occasions in his club career and has 26 assists. This year at Dortmund, participating in as the most innovative of 3 midfielders, he is their major scorer with 10 objectives, is next for assists (6) and 3rd for likelihood produced (28).
He scored his to start with and only England objective at the World Cup, when he headed in the opener in the 6-2 get about Iran.
Bellingham also provided an assist in an remarkable attacking effectiveness in England’s 3- final-16 win more than Senegal and, in his workforce across the tournament, only Luke Shaw contributed to much more open up-play shot-ending sequences.
Fernandez’s targets-for every-sport ratio at club degree is marginally worse, owning scored 17 periods. He has 20 assists, like a person on his second look for Chelsea towards West Ham previous weekend.
Before he joined the Blues from Benfica, he rated next in Portugal’s Primeira Liga for becoming included in open-enjoy shot-ending sequences, even while he was employed as a keeping midfielder.
At the Globe Cup, Fernandez scored a stunner to seal a 2- win for Argentina against Mexico and chipped in with an assistant from Poland. In the last towards France, he experienced additional touches and successful passes than any other player.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WINNER: BELLINGHAM
The English superstar is a lot more of a box-to-box midfielder and offers additional attacking prowess
DEFENSIVE Characteristics
Fernandez has verified his defensive credentials now in the Premier League.
Only Manchester United midfielder Fred has gained much more tackles than the Argentine in the final two league games. Fernandez has also gained more duels than any other Chelsea midfielder.
In his 5 Champions League matches with Benfica earlier this period, he won 7 tackles, attempted 3.8 tackles for each 90 minutes and gained 5.4 duels a video game.
In comparison, in his individual 5 European outings right before Xmas, Bellingham won 5 tackles, attempted 1.6 tackles for every match and gained 5.6 duels a recreation, so there is minor to separate the pair.
For Dortmund in the Bundesliga, Bellingham has gained far far more duels (225) and tackles (39) than any of his crew-mates.
HEAD-TO-HEAD WINNER: FERNANDEZ
Whilst the deep-lying playmaker Argentine edges out Bellingham in phrases of defensive skills
Overall
Fernandez could be the £106m guy, but Bellingham will definitely smash that transfer file all over again need to he return to England this summer time.
The all-action Brummie has expertise beyond his teenage years and is now incorporating far more targets to his game, acquiring been given the licence to push further forward by Dortmund.
While the pacey and strong Bellingham is box to box, Fernandez prefers to pulls the strings from deep, so his numbers may possibly never ever exhibit his legitimate worthy of.
There is no question Chelsea have made a good acquisition in the Argentine, but the midfielder with the X-factor is the just one they arrive up versus on Wednesday night time.
WINNER: BELLINGHAM