The MetaLink isn't a bond-out.
If you are absolutely positively certain this is the whole truth and nothing but the truth (the bondout chips I have seen so far have no unique markings), check the following:

1) are the pinouts exactly the same ?
2) is the reset polarity the same ?
3) do both chips (not) output on the reset pulse ?
4) if ports are configurable (e.g. push pull) do they configure the same way at reset in both ?
5) Do both chips have the "philips trick"

If you can answer the above with a confident YES the risk of trying to pop another chip into the debugger "just to try" will be minuscule.

Erik