Jude Bellingham is the perfect midfielder on the planet – he is England’s Messi

Jude Bellingham can be England’s answer to Lionel Messi in Germany according to former Three Lion Luther Blissett.

The 20-year-old enjoyed a stunning debut campaign at Real Madrid. He bagged 23 goals in all competitions for Carlo Ancelotti’s men – and won La Liga and the Champions League – having signed from Borussia Dortmund only last summer.

Real handed over in excess of £100million to secure his services. And the move came just three seasons after Dortmund coughed up £25m to draft him in from Birmingham in a deal that made him the most expensive 17-year-old ever.

Blissett, who moved to AC Milan from Watford for £1m in 1983, reckons Bellingham’s European adventure is helping him to develop into one of the finest midfielders of his generation.

“Playing abroad gives you another insight into the game,” said the former striker, who holds Watford’s all-time records for appearances and goals, having played 503 games and scored 186 goals.

“In Italy I found it was all about not giving goals away – and the Italians were brilliant at that. For the Spanish it’s about creativity and movement across midfield. Bellingham will understand that having been an absolute star for Real Madrid last season.

“He’s arguably the best attacking midfielder in the world at the moment. Bellingham makes goals – but he certainly scores them as well. That’s a massive threat to any team you’re playing against.

“He’s almost like our own Messi in that midfield, in the deeper lying attacking role. Having a player like that in your team can be a really motivating factor too. The squad know if he’s on song you’ve got a good chance of beating anybody.

“The biggest challenge for Southgate is making sure you’ve got the right blend of players around him in midfield and attack.”

Harry Kane will lead the line for the Three Lions against Serbia.

But unlike Bellingham, the England skipper suffered a disappointing season abroad as he looked to pick up silverware.

Bayern Munich failed to secure Bundesliga glory for the first time in over a decade despite Kane bagging a whopping 36 top-flight goals in 32 games.

But Blissett believes the former Tottenham man will still have learned plenty of new tricks at the Allianz Arena that can benefit his England team-mates.

“It had looked like he was going to have an amazing season with Bayern – but it felt like the team lost its way,” added Blissett, who was capped 14 times for England and scored a hat-trick on debut.

“It was such a shame for him personally because if he’d have won the Bundesliga we’d have all seen another side to him.

“He still scored a lot of goals, though, and his game has developed even more. He’s added a little something else to his overall play in Germany.

“Kane will come deep, so that means your wide players need to get on the opposite side of him. When I was playing with John Barnes, if I went short, I wanted him to go the other way. Good teams will always find a way to work a system and England have the ability to do exactly that.

“I don’t think the players are fully aware of how great they can be. Southgate needs to go out and tell them, ‘You can do this’.

“It’s not a case of being overconfident – they just need to have that belief in each other.”