Birmingham City's Dan Crowley has compared his 16-year-old teammate Jude Bellingham with Tottenham and England midfielder Dele Alli, after his latest match-winning performance.

Bellingham came off the bench to net the winner for Birmingham in their 2-1 win over Stoke City in the final game before the September international break, in what was just his third senior appearance for the club.

After being rewarded for that with a start in Saturday's trip to Charlton, Bellingham repeated the trick by netting the only goal of the game to end the Addicks' unbeaten start to the season and lift Pep Clotet's side to eighth in the Championship table.

It is perhaps no surprise therefore that Crowley, who joined Birmingham from PEC Zwolle in the summer, has been with what he has seen so far from Bellingham, and it appears that it not just with regards to matchdays, as he told Birmingham Live: “He’s unbelievable, I can’t speak highly enough about Jude as a lad.

“As a player he has got everything. It’s really great to play with him and so exciting to see what he can be like in the future.

“He’s massively mature and grounded, he scored last week and then went away with England and got Player of the Tournament.

“Now he is back and smashing training again in the week. He’s really hungry and that’s what you need as a young player."

Discussing just how far the teenager could go in the game, it is clear Crowley is expecting big things from Bellingham, who made the comparison with Alli, as he continued: “With the lads he’s around, who are going to help him, he has a great chance to go to the very top.

“I’ve been at Arsenal and seen what you have got to be like to play there. Jude’s got that chance. I used to play with and against Dele Alli and he reminds me of Dele."

Explaining what it is that made him identify Alli as a player similar to his current teammate, Crowley concluded: “He’s smart and the fact he has so much to learn and playing like that it felt just like Dele. Dele progressed in the league and I think Jude can be up there.

“Dele is quite tall and so is Jude. Dele with the ball at his feet is really good. I’ve not seen a young lad who is so tall and big so good with his feet.”

Bellingham will hope to continue his impressive start to life in senior football on Saturday, when Birmingham host Preston at St Andrew's.

The Verdict

This will surely be yet another big confidence boost for Bellingham.

Having already made such an impact for Birmingham on the pitch, being compared to such an effective and high profile player as Alli will surely help to lift his spirits even further.

With Crowley having seen both in action both on the pitch and behind the scenes throughout his career, there doesn't seem to be much reason to argue with his assessment here.

Indeed, given the way 16-year-old Bellingham has started life in the first-team at Championship, it is hard to argue with the suggestion that he could go just as far in his career as Alli himself has done.