So yesterday during the first half of England v Italy (I turned off for the second half), I began making notes on what England players would get into The Arsenal starting XI.

Bellingham is not just one of the best young midfielders in the world, he is one of the best midfielders in the world. And he is quickly becoming one of the best players in the world (some will argue he already is!).

Last summer he joined Real Madrid for around PS100million. A similar price to what we paid for Declan Rice.

At the time, the debate in the WhatsApp groud was whether we should have been targeting Bellingham ahead of Rice.

What also swung it was that Rice could also play further forward, but I did not think Bellingham could play deeper.

There is no debate that Bellingham would have been a better option than Kai Havertz, but that is also why Bellingham cost Real Madrid around PS30million more than the German.

There might have been an option to sign both Bellingham and Rice and completely revamped our midfield - there would not have been a better midfield trio in European football than Martin Odegaard, Bellingham and Rice.

We spent close to PS200million duing the summer on Rice, Havertz and Jurrien Timber. A Bellingham and Rice window would have seen us sacrifice Havertz (not an issue with an upgrade in Bellingham) and Timber.

That would have left us without further defensive cover. And whilst Timber has picked up an injury, I think we can all agree that he was exactly what we needed in defence - covers all of the back 4 and provides another option as a ball playing defender.

Would I have wanted us to have signed Bellingham instead of Havertz AND Timber? I am not sure.

That would have left us short in defence (again, ignore that Timber then got injured), and probably would have resulted with either Kieran Tierney and Rob Holding staying - Timber replaces the pair.

So you if agree that Timber was an essential signing, then the option of Bellingham AND Rice is off the table. It is then Bellingham OR Rice. And I still think I was right in my original assessment.

Rice is a level ahead of Bellingham (although Jude is closing that gap), and covers a harder to fill position. Taking into account Partey's injury issues and the forthcoming African Cup of Nations, it would have been dangerous to go into this season with the Ghanaian, Jorginho and an injured Mo Elneny as our defensive midfield options.

So if you are then signing Bellingham instead of Rice, you do not need Havertz. That gives you the Havertz money to recruit a more defensive minded midfielder.

Romeo Lavia joined Chelsea for not too disimilar money, and could have been a good understudy for Partey. Hi-jacking the deal that Manchester United agreed for Sofyan Amrabat would have been an idea - but he is another African in the middle.

Ibrahim Sangare has been highly rated by some for a while, but has shown with his struggles for Nottingham Forest that there is a huge gulf between the Premier League and Eredivisie.

Lavia really is the only stand-out candidate. So I guess it is then:

Bellingham, Lavia, TimberHavertz, Rice, TimberBellingham, Rice

A last little note on this, it also assumes that we could have beaten Real Madrid to Bellingham's signing. Too often fans moan about missing out on a player without accepting that the player might have preferred to join a different club.

Last, last comment on this.

"We should be monitoring Jobe Bellingham" was mentioned last night. Just no.

You do not monitor a player just because his brother is World Class. Paul Pogba's brothers where nowhere near his ability. Nor were Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's or Eden Hazard's.

At 18, Jude joined DortmundAt 18, Jobe joined Sunderland

We should be monitoring players on their own ability, not that of a sibling.

Have a good Tuesday.

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