Ledley King has said that he’d pick one particular Manchester City player over Jude Bellingham.
The former defender made 322 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur and featured in 21 senior England games throughout his playing career.
For club and country, the 43-year-old would have played with and against a wide range of top-quality players.
Now that the next European Championship is around the corner, King has highlighted how he’d set the England team up, with Bellingham and one specific City player getting thrown into the conversation.
Ledley King says Man City star is more suited to specific England role than Jude Bellingham
Speaking on talkSPORT, King had this to say on the subject of how he’d fit Phil Foden and Bellingham in the England team.
He said: “I’d have to find a spot for Foden, whether you play him off the right, I actually prefer him central, if you can find a spot for him there.
“I’d go with [Declan] Rice and Bellingham and then Foden in the midfield.
“Obviously, Jude’s been unbelievable this season but I still, it sounds crazy but I don’t know if he’s as natural a number 10 as Foden is.
“In terms of picking up the pockets of space, turning, threading balls, I know he did one in the [Champions League] final but I still think he can do that from a slightly deeper position in terms of getting forward, getting up and down, he’s got so much energy, great legs, someone who can do a bit of everything, he can tackle.”
Foden and Bellingham could be a dangerous midfielder duo for England
Looking at the duo’s recent individual domestic campaigns, they scored the same number of goals (19), but Foden delivered more assists than the Real Madrid star (8 vs 6).
In terms of their creative efforts, the City midfielder made more key passes (73 vs 48), shot-creating actions (144 vs 99) and goal-creating actions (21 vs 13) than Bellingham.
This makes it easy to see why King thinks Foden would be more suited to a number 10 role higher up the midfield than the 20-year-old, who may be better off sitting a bit deeper in England’s midfield.
Either way, given the number of goal contributions the two midfielders have delivered for their clubs this season, we think that they could be a key pair for England and Gareth Southgate in the upcoming tournament.