BORN ON THIS DAY: JOBE BELLINGHAM

Today is the 20th birthday of former Sunderland midfielder and promotion winner, Jobe Bellingham.

Born in Stourbridge, Bellingham began his career at the Birmingham City academy and featured regularly for their U18 and U21 sides during the early years of his career. In 2021, Jobe narrowly missed out on making club history when, at the age of 15 years and 321 days, he featured on the bench for the Blues in a League Cup game. Had he came on he would have become the youngest ever first-team player for Birmingham City. Eventually, he did manage to make his debut at the age of 16 years and 107 days, appearing off of the bench in an FA Cup game. One week later he achieved another milestone, appearing as a substitute to make his debut in the EFL Championship.

After the announcement that he would be putting pen to paper on his first professional contract upon reaching his 17th birthday, Jobe was slowly integrated more and more into the first team set-up at Birmingham in the following campaign. Usually appearing from the bench, Bellingham was trusted with his first start against none other than Sunderland.

After a good handful of senior appearances, Jobe made the move to the north east in the summer of 2023. The transfer was largely down to the Bellingham family's links with Kristjaan Speakman and Mike Dodds. The rumoured fee was £3 million, which was quite a lot to commit to a 17-year-old, but of course that fee proved to be well worth the money. The transfer also went through on the same day his brother moved to Real Madrid, so overall a good day in the Bellingham household.

He was immediately thrown into the thick of things and started against Ipswich on the opening day of the 2023/24 season. Continuing the pattern of mirroring his brother, not only in play style and looks, Jobe netted a brace against Rotherham on the same day Jude did the same against Almeria. This was an important moment for the youngster as they were his first ever goals scored at a senior level.

During 23/24 we arguably didn't see the best of Jobe, although he did start the season well and was one of our brighest sparks in a depressing season. He was played in various different positions, including up front, and experienced severe burnout at one point because he literally started every game but three.

The following campaign, after the sacking of Beale and the eventual appointment of Regis Le Bris, we saw the very best of Jobe. He played in one position, box-to-box midfield on the left hand side of a three, and became a real specialist. It's amazing how much difference some proper coaching and direction can make. He was a pivotal cog in the RLB machine which, since gameweek one onwards, only saw us fall as low as fourth in the league. The England youth international helped us charge to a play-off win and subsequently was subject to heavy transfer rumours.

Jobe ended up following in his brother's footsteps and signing for Borrussia Dortmund for a massive fee reported to be over £30m. It was this deal, along with the Watson exit and previous Clarke and Stewart sales, which allowed us to completely overhaul the squad and build a team capable of competing at the very top.

Since signing for BVB, Jobe has played in the Club World Cup, the Bundesliga and made his debut in the Champions League. He's a regular England international at U21 level and looks certain to break into the senior side at some point during his career. It would not be a shock to see the two Bellinghams line up together in the near future. Happy birthday, Jobe!