Fermín vs Jude Bellingham
Two attacking midfielders born 49 days apart, whose competitive debuts for Real Madrid and Barcelona came 15 days apart in August 2023: one a €103 million signing, the other just back from a loan in the third tier.
By the Oddsivio teamLast reviewed Stats updated
Last season · club and country together · official matches
Who does what?
Last season, Fermín had more assists; the two were level on goals, chances created and pass completion.
Worth knowing: Fermín had 3,118 minutes last season, Jude Bellingham 3,442.
What separates them
1 of 4 pass both our tests: a big enough gap, and sure enough to hold.
- Fermín
- Bellingham
- Typical forwards
- Goals per 90Level0.3813 goals0.3915 goals
Too small a gap against typical forwards to name a leader.
- Chances created per 90Level1.654 chances1.661 chances
Too small a gap against typical forwards to name a leader.
- Assists per 90Fermín led0.4917 assists0.166 assists
About 10 more assists over 30 full matches for Fermín than Bellingham.
Held up next season: about 8 in 10
- Pass completion share of passes completedLevel87%50%100%88%
Too small a gap against typical forwards to name a leader. Pass completion depends a lot on role and team.
Per 90 = per 90 minutes played, so different minutes compare fairly.
Does it hold up?
Without penalties
Too close to call (13 goals to 15).
How they play · volume, not a lead
Fermín shot far more (2.7 vs 1.6 per 90); Jude Bellingham made far more interceptions (0.7 vs 0.4 per 90) last season.
Why this comparison
Jude Bellingham joined Real Madrid in June 2023 after 132 games for Borussia Dortmund, who told the stock exchange that the fixed fee was €103 million with add-ons on top, and he scored on his debut at Athletic Club on 12 August. Fermín López, 49 days older, had spent the previous season on loan at Linares Deportivo in Spain's third tier; he told the Catalan daily ARA in August 2026 that he had thought then he would never return to Barcelona. His official debut came 15 days after Bellingham's, as an 86th-minute substitute at Villarreal.
The comparison has been made mostly in numbers, by the Spanish-language sports press. Sport's headline in April 2024 put Fermín's 2024 on Bellingham's level; Mundo Deportivo wrote in February 2026 that he had almost double Bellingham's goals that season; and on 7 September 2026 ESPN Deportes, calling them the two No 10s of Barcelona and Real Madrid, counted exactly 25 club goals each since the start of 2024–25. Marca's US edition wrote the same day that the comparison had not long before seemed premature. Nine of the ten competitive Clásicos from October 2023 to May 2026 had both of them on the pitch.
Every number · last season
 FermínFermín | Stat | BellinghamJude Bellingham |
|---|---|---|
3,118 | Minutes | 3,442 |
51 | Matches | 50 |
62.55Important · 40 club games · as of 2026-10-12 | Current squad importance | 69.66Important · 40 club games · as of 2026-10-12 |
0.3813 in total | goals per 90 | 0.3915 in total |
0.4917 in total | assists per 90 | 0.166 in total |
1.654 in total | chances created per 90 | 1.661 in total |
2.792 in total | shots per 90 | 1.661 in total |
3.6125 in total | take-ons tried per 90 | 3.2124 in total |
2.482 in total | tackles per 90 | 2.493 in total |
0.415 in total | interceptions per 90 | 0.725 in total |
5.5191 in total | duels won per 90 | 8.1309 in total |
87% | pass completion | 88% |
Goals and assists are counted from match events; the other counts come from the provider's detailed match stats. Squad importance describes the current club role over its recent club-game window; it is independent of the comparison window.
Have they played each other?
All nine of their competitive meetings up to May 2026 were Clásicos. Barcelona and Real Madrid met ten times in competitive football between Bellingham's arrival and that month. He started all ten; Fermín started five, came on in four and stayed on the bench throughout the January 2025 Spanish Super Cup final, which is why that game is not in the list below. Real Madrid won the first three of the nine and Barcelona five of the six after that. Three were finals at neutral grounds, in Riyadh, Seville and Jeddah, although the list has to name a home side for each. The rows cannot show that Fermín hit the post with Barcelona 1–0 up in October 2023, before Bellingham scored twice; that Fermín had a goal in the fifth minute of added time ruled out for handball after a video review in May 2025; or that the red card shown to Bellingham after the final whistle of the 2025 Copa del Rey final was rescinded three days later. Minutes in the list stop at 90, or at 120 after extra time. Friendlies are not counted, so the list leaves out the game in Arlington, Texas, on 29 July 2023: Fermín came on seven minutes before Bellingham went off, then scored from outside the box and set up another goal in a 3–0 win. For their countries the two have not yet been on the pitch together: Fermín was an unused substitute in the Euro 2024 final, which Spain won 2–1 against England in Berlin, and again at Wembley on 26 September 2026, when Spain won 3–2 and Bellingham played the whole game. The clubs were due to meet in La Liga on 25 October 2026, at the Spotify Camp Nou, and Spain were due to host England in Madrid on 15 November 2026.
Looking up their matches…
What the numbers don't show
On the card above, the 2025–26 figures take in games for club and country alike, and the two players' summers were very different. Seven of Bellingham's 15 goals came in eight games at the 2026 World Cup, where England finished third. Fermín was not there: he broke a bone in his right foot against Real Betis on 17 May 2026, a week after Barcelona had clinched the league against Real Madrid, and Spain won the tournament without him. He told Catalunya Ràdio that July it had been the worst summer of his life. For their clubs alone, 2025–26 ended with 13 goals for Fermín and eight for Bellingham.
A per-90 figure also treats every minute alike. On Transfermarkt's match log, Fermín had started 77 of his 143 Barcelona games up to 19 September 2026; by Real Madrid's figures Bellingham had started 133 of 148 up to the next day. Fermín began fewer than half his games in each of his first two seasons and 34 of 48 in 2025–26, and in that season 12 of his 13 goals came in games he started.
Role moves the rows too. Both are listed as attacking midfielders and judged here among forwards, but Opta Analyst found that Bellingham spent only 28% of his league minutes in 2025–26 in the position closer to the striker, against 71% at the World Cup, while Transfermarkt lists 26 of Fermín's 34 starts that season as the attacking midfielder. And an assist depends on who is counting: for Bellingham's 2025–26 club season Real Madrid's own page gives two and Opta five.
Estimated value
Fermín's Oddsivio estimated value is higher: €116m (#12 of 9,335 players valued) to Jude Bellingham's €103m (#19 of 9,335 players valued). Fermín's estimate rose 33% since season start; Bellingham's estimate held steady since season start.Oddsivio estimated value — a model estimate from recent performance data, not betting advice.
Fermín
Oddsivio estimated value
€116m
+33% since season start
#12 of 9,335 players valued#3 of 506 in La Liga
Jude Bellingham
Oddsivio estimated value
€103m
0% since season start
#19 of 9,335 players valued#5 of 506 in La Liga
Questions fans ask
Fermín López vs Bellingham stats: who has the better numbers this season?
The 2026/27 view, one of the three choices on the card, has the live figures. It names no leader until each player has 1,800 minutes, because a handful of games can move a per-90 figure a long way. Up to the international break that followed the weekend of 19 and 20 September 2026, Fermín had four goals and two assists in seven Barcelona games (five starts, 466 minutes) and Bellingham three goals and two assists in eight Real Madrid games (seven starts, 619 minutes). Barcelona had won all seven of their league games and Real Madrid five of seven. In the first three rounds of Nations League games, from 26 September to 3 October 2026, Bellingham had a goal in three England games and Fermín played 80 minutes in two for Spain without scoring. In 2025–26 the club figures were 13 goals and 17 assists in 48 games for Fermín and eight goals in 40 for Bellingham, who missed Real Madrid's first four games after shoulder surgery and then ten in a row in February and March after a hamstring injury.
Who is better, Fermín López or Bellingham?
This page leaves that to the card above, which is worked out again from the games in each view. The case for Bellingham is the longer record: 49 goals in 148 games for Real Madrid up to 20 September 2026, 23 of them in a first season in which he won La Liga and the Champions League and was named La Liga's player of the season; third place in the 2024 Ballon d'Or; and seven goals at the 2026 World Cup, the most by an England player at a single World Cup. The case for Fermín is how often he scores for the minutes he gets: 36 goals in 143 Barcelona games up to 19 September 2026, about one every 207 minutes to Bellingham's one every 240, and 13 goals with 17 assists as Barcelona won the league in 2025–26. Supporters argue over whether the comparison is fair at all, since Bellingham has started about nine in every ten of his Real Madrid games and Fermín became a regular starter only in 2025–26. Marca's reading on 7 September 2026 was that Bellingham still had the edge in standing and in weight within his team, and that Fermín was still taking steps towards that level.
Who has more goals, Bellingham or Fermín López?
Bellingham, in total: 49 for Real Madrid to Fermín's 36 for Barcelona, each counted from his debut in August 2023 to the September 2026 international break. From the start of 2024–25 to that break it was 26 to 25, in 8,130 minutes for Bellingham and 5,558 for Fermín on Transfermarkt's match logs. In La Liga, Opta Analyst's player pages on 6 October 2026 showed 37 goals in 94 games for Bellingham and 24 in 95 for Fermín. In the Champions League each scored nine across the three seasons from 2023–24 to 2025–26, on UEFA's figures. For their countries, by 3 October 2026, Bellingham had 14 goals in 59 England games and Fermín none in nine for Spain's senior team, though he scored six at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, two of them in the final.
How have Fermín and Bellingham done against each other in the Clásico?
In the nine games both have played, up to May 2026, Barcelona won five and Real Madrid four. Bellingham scored four goals and set up two, on ESPN's count of assists; Fermín scored two and set up one. Bellingham started all nine and played 836 minutes on the match clock to Fermín's 503, from five starts. Every one of those six goals came in a game Real Madrid won. Twice both scored. On 21 April 2024 Fermín, on at half-time, put Barcelona 2–1 up at the Bernabéu and celebrated with his arms spread wide, which Goal and Fox Sports México reported as an imitation of Bellingham's celebration; Fermín told OKDIARIO that June that he had done it because Messi used to celebrate that way, not because of Bellingham. Bellingham scored the winner in the 91st minute. On 26 October 2025 Bellingham set up the first goal, Fermín equalised, and Bellingham scored the winner five minutes later. Fermín's part in Barcelona's five wins was one assist, for Raphinha in the January 2026 Spanish Super Cup final.
Is Fermín López a starter for Barcelona?
Since 2025–26, yes. On Transfermarkt's match log he started 19 of 42 games in 2023–24 under Xavi, 19 of 46 in 2024–25, Hansi Flick's first season, and 34 of 48 in 2025–26; in 2026–27 he started five of Barcelona's first eight games, up to 19 September 2026. His rival for the place behind the striker is Dani Olmo, who said in January 2026 that the two play the same position and were getting more chances to play together. ESPN's line-ups for those eight games show where Flick has put him: the No 10 on the opening day, then, in his other four starts, on the right of a midfield three beside Pedri, with Rodri at its base in three of them. He and Olmo did not start any of the eight together: Olmo started the three that Fermín did not. He told ARA in August 2026 that his best position is as the No 10. With Spain he had started twice in nine senior games by 3 October 2026; before the second of those starts, Luis de la Fuente said he was in fantastic form and fitted Spain's idea of how to play. By 20 September 2026 Bellingham had started 133 of his 148 Real Madrid games, and in all seven of his starts under José Mourinho up to that date ESPN's line-ups had him as the No 10 behind Kylian Mbappé.
What have Fermín López and Bellingham won?
By October 2026 Fermín had won La Liga in 2024–25 and 2025–26, the Copa del Rey in 2025 and the Spanish Super Cup in 2025 and 2026 with Barcelona, and Euro 2024 and Olympic gold in 2024 with Spain. Bellingham won the German Cup with Dortmund in 2021, then La Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup in his first season at Real Madrid, and, later in 2024, the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA's Intercontinental Cup. Four of Fermín's five trophies with Barcelona were sealed against Real Madrid: two Super Cup finals, a Copa del Rey final and the league-clinching Clásico of May 2026, and he played in three of those four games. Individual prizes lean the other way. Bellingham won the Golden Boy and the Kopa Trophy in 2023, was La Liga's best player of 2023–24 and third in the 2024 Ballon d'Or, and was among the 30 nominees for the 2026 award, with the ceremony due in London on 26 October 2026; Fermín was not nominated. Fermín's best individual mark is from the 2024 Olympics, where his six goals made him the tournament's second-highest scorer. His Euro 2024 medal comes from a final that Bellingham played and lost while he stayed on the bench.