Jude Bellingham is the most recent name to interest Manchester United this January transfer window. And playing in the second tier of English football at such a raw age may mean many will be oblivious to the youngster’s talents.

United are in desperate need of adding to their midfield ranks, with both first teamers Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay out injured. Fred has stepped up this season but Andreas Pereira has failed to consistently mpress and, at 31, Nemanja Matic's days at the club look numbered come the summer.

Since returning to the club as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made United's transfer regime to sign young, British players with the right mentality.

His plan is working so far with Harry Maguire, Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all impressing in their debut seasons.

With Bellingham interesting the club hierarchy, the MEN has taken a closer look.

Here’s everything you need to know about Jude Bellingham:

Name: Jude Victor William Bellingham

Birthplace: Stourbridge, England

Date of birth: 29th June 2003 (16 years old)

Current club: Birmingham City

Shirt number: 22

Position: Centre midfield

Background

Jude Bellingham has been at Birmingham City since he joined as an Under-8 player.

In 2018, he made his debut for their U23 side, scoring the only goal of the game away to Nottingham Forest, at the tender age of 15.

In 2019, Bellingham particularly excelled in Birmingham’s development squads and made FourFourTwo’s list of ‘50 most exciting teenagers in English football’.

In August of the same year, the midfielder became The Blues’ youngest ever first team player (16 years, 18 days) beating a record set by Trevor Francis (16 years, 138 days) in 1970. He started the Carabao Cup first round fixture away to Portsmouth, and despite a heavy 3-0 defeat, he earned the Birmingham Mail’s Man of the Match gong.

A matter of days later, he made his Football League debut as a second half substitute in another 3-0 drubbing – this time they fell short to Swansea City.

But it was Bellingham’s home debut against Stoke City where he excelled. Entering the St. Andrews fray after the half-hour mark, the midfielder went on to score the winning goal in a 2-1 win for the hosts over Stoke City.

Since then, he has made 23 league appearances for Birmingham, scoring three goals and recording one assist.

Bellingham also received the EFL Young Player of the Month award for November 2019.

How does he play?

Bellingham is midfielder with a lot going for him, he is strong in the tackle, efficient with his ball retention, and often looks for that illusive through ball to set forwards through on goal.

The 16-year-old has an old head on young shoulders and is very reliable and composed in front of goal, too.

To compare him to some more commonly known Premier League footballers, he is of a similar mould to the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum, Abdoulaye Doucoure and John McGinn.

Bizarre fact

Jude is the eldest son of Mark Bellingham, a prolific goal scorer in non-league football in his playing days, and now a sergeant in the West Midlands Police Force.

Records are somewhat opaque that deep in the realms of non-league football but Mark estimates that he's represented 15 clubs and scored approximately 700 goals in 850 appearances… We’ll just have to take his word for it!