I bestow the description ‘great player’ very rarely and you will know very well by now that when it comes to midfielders, I apply a particularly fierce critique.

But I say without a moment’s hesitation that Jude Bellingham can be in that bracket. He has the physical attributes and technical ability of Zinedine Zidane — for me, one of the greatest players to have graced Real Madrid’s midfield — but only time will tell if he reaches those heights. His potential seems limitless.

I had never seen Bellingham in the flesh until I was at Hampden for England’s match against Scotland on Tuesday. But as I stood in the middle of the pitch, 20 or 30 yards from him, as part of the Channel 4 analysis team before kick-off, I could see that he has a greater physicality than I did at his age. I didn’t fill out until I was 22, or 23. Bellingham, at 20, already looks the finished article but that physical development is not even complete.

I was on the big side of the scale for midfielders when I played, though I’d be an average-sized one today, when I look at some of the players now.

But while they can assess player quads, lungs, hearts and bleep-test data in infinitesimal detail, please show me the monitor which reveals what goes on inside a player’s head when the going gets tough. Of course, there isn’t one — though that is still the most vital asset you can possess as a human being and a footballer. It’s certainly one that Bellingham has in abundance.

Jude Bellingham put in a sensational display for England against Scotland earlier this week

It was the first time I have seen him live and he has all the attributes to be one of the greats

There are many dimensions to his game. He’s a ground-coverer. He has fantastic technique. He has a wise football head on young shoulders, with years of experience yet to accrue. He has that physique.

But it’s the capacity to see three or four steps ahead, something that only the best players have, which is special. He has all the attributes to become one of the game’s greats.

Let me explain this by painting the scene at a coaching session. Average players will receive the ball, then get their heads up and decide what they’re going to do with it. They’re not playing the game in their heads.

The good players always know what they’re going to do with the ball before it arrives. They have been playing that passage of football in their heads. And then there are the great players, who are not just one step ahead, but two or three.

On Tuesday night’s evidence, Bellingham is in the latter group. He wears the No 5 for Real Madrid and took the 10 shirt for England but the number is immaterial.

It pains me to say that I felt Scotland were very tame. It wasn’t really a test for England. I certainly want to see Bellingham tested against the best. But he still benefited from a far more intelligent use of his talents than we’d seen against Ukraine a few days earlier.

In that first game, he got himself too far up the field as the game was developing and ended up receiving balls with his back to where he wanted to go.

I don’t think that suits him at all. He’s better coming on to things. Unlike James Maddison, who is more than happy to play with his back to goal, getting on the half-turn in and around the opposition’s box.

I don’t think England need to deploy two holding midfielders because Bellingham has the energy and athleticism to get involved further up the field and then get himself back in the defensive midfield shape very quickly when it breaks down. Declan Rice can fill the space behind him when he goes.

I’d have Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden playing wide, either side of Rice and Bellingham, with Maddison ahead of them and Harry Kane at the top. I’m sure Kane would love to play with Maddison, who is the best provider of that 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁er pass, chips in with goals and is not afraid of doing the defensive hard yards.

He has the physical attributes and technical ability of Zinedine Zidane — one of the greatest players to have graced Real’s midfield — but only time will tell if he reaches those heights

Bellingham is the sort of player who everyone would want in their team and he is still just 20

It baffles me that Gareth Southgate still operates with the handbrake on when he is blessed with such depth in the areas where it is hardest to find — creative and goalscoring players.

For all their dominance, England had only 20 touches in Scotland’s box and five shots on target. That’s not enough for this team, with the talent and creative players they are blessed with. Those numbers tell us that England were getting nowhere near enough supply to their forwards. Southgate must show more adventure and utilise his wonderful attacking assets.

Bellingham is a player who everyone would want in their team. I know I would. He is not only looking to run forward at every opportunity and create havoc, but is sprinting back into defensive shape when his team lose the ball.

He and Rice could form an England midfield partnership into the next decade. Though it grieves me as a proud Scot to say so, they can make England a very powerful force in the years to come.

Maguire is a victim of United’s plight, he doesn’t deserve this abuse

I will say straight out that Harry Maguire would get into the vast majority of Premier League teams.

Other than a desperately unlucky own goal against Scotland the other night, I don’t know what he did wrong to be hit with more abuse and ridicule.

Fundamentally, he is a very good footballer. Yes, he has limitations. He’s not the quickest. But he’s an experienced centre half — one of the better ones with the ball at his feet — who should be getting better and better because he can read and sense things, as centre halves do in their later years.

The way centre halves are playing today — being asked to make passes inside and on the edge of the box — they are going to make mistakes.

Against Scotland, Maguire put in a good performance despite what we must assume is zero confidence, because he’ll be aware of what people are saying about him. Scotland’s Lyndon Dykes didn’t win a single header when he came on after an hour. But abuse seems to be Maguire’s lot and I just hope he’s got people around him, helping to keep his head above water.

Harry Maguire put in a good performance despite the ridicule he faced against Scotland

I was in favour of Gareth Southgate offering his robust support of Maguire following the game

He’s a victim of where Manchester United are right now. United fans are clearly an unhappy lot because they can see how far they are away from City and winning a Premier League title or Champions League any time soon.

I don’t subscribe to the view that Gareth Southgate fanned the flames of the abuse in some way, with his robust support of Maguire. If you don’t support him, how does that appear to the rest of the group? Southgate is looking at the bigger picture.

As a manager, you try to create an ‘us against the world’ mentality — something Fergie did very successfully — and Gareth wants to create that with this England squad. He had to speak out against this abuse, which is an unfathomable symptom of our times.

Liverpool are the biggest challengers to Man City

I’ll make a bold statement about the Premier League race, which resumes today: Liverpool will finish first or second this season.

I see a stronger Liverpool. Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai appear to understand the demands of playing for the club.

Our football needs a challenge to Manchester City’s dominance and Liverpool can provide it. They are the biggest threat to Pep Guardiola winning four titles on the trot.

Liverpool look stronger this season and I believe they are the biggest challengers to Man City