Jude Bellingham has blown Real Madrid away with his goalscoring form early on in his time at the ... [+]
When Real Madrid, one of soccer’s greatest institutions, fork out €103 million ($112.3 million) for your services at the age of 20, it seems tricky that you could go on to surpass expectations. In the unique case of English midfielder Jude Bellingham, he is doing just that.
Training alongside World Cup winners and serial Champions League victors, anyone would expect Bellingham to have been a shy figure, but right from the off he made his impact clear. “From the very first training sessions we did with him the veterans looked at each other and said, ‘hey, this guy knows what he’s doing’,” Dani Carvajal revealed to Universo Valdano, reported by Managing Madrid. “You don’t see him as a very quick player, or you don’t really think he’s truly out of this world from a technical perspective, but he has it all.”
Once he got onto the field, he made it clear not only to his team-mates, but to the 90,000 spectators at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and the millions watching on television that he was the main man. 22 games into his Real Madrid career, he has scored 17 goals and recorded five assists, averaging one goal involvement per game since his arrival. Of his 17 strikes, 16 have come in victories for Los Blancos and seven of those involved a decisive goal from Bellingham.
Walking around the Bernabéu on a matchday, the number of jerseys donning the number five and Bellingham’s name is remarkable. Where the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema once dominated, Bellingham has become an instant hit. His shirt was already the third-best selling this summer before a ball was kicked, claim Relevo, and those numbers have only sky-rocketed since. In fact, it’s now Bellingham who is idolized, seemingly even more so than Vinícius Júnior, who has been with the club for several years.
In Bellingham, a man who idolized Zinedine Zidane while the Frenchman wore the same number five jersey, Real Madrid appear to have found a man to lead their team for a decade to come, and most possibly longer. He himself has spoken of staying in the Spanish capital for “10 to 15 year”, and may well be inspired by lining up alongside 38-year-old Luka Modrić.
Tactical fit
Upon Bellingham’s arrival, there was some concern over quite where he would fit into a side that had no clear center-forward. The unexpected departure of Karim Benzema to Saudi Arabia left a gap in the Real Madrid offense which left many clamouring for the signing of Kylian Mbappé, rather than keeping an eye on Bellingham’s arrival. In some ways, that perhaps helped him to adapt quickly without the pressure of being the club’s superstar signing.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti has worked closely with Bellingham to establish his role in the team, acting almost lie a false nine through the middle at times, but with a role which is defined by its freedom and by permitting Bellingham the opportunity to roam as he sees fit.
“He’s finding a lot of possibilities in attack, he’s very involved, I’ve told him that he doesn’t have a fixed position and that’s benefitting him,” Ancelotti said in a press conference, as reported by Managing Madrid, even back in October. “He’s attacking from deep and it’s been a surprising start to the season, nobody expected this level in terms of goals.”
The Italian has repeatedly praised Bellingham’s ability to break between the lines and to arrive in the box at the right time. It was that feat that helped him to score stoppage time winners against Union Berlin and Getafe in September, showing a poacher’s instinct in the box that nobody expected from the midfielder.
Now playing in the tip of a diamond or alongside Luka Modrić in a midfield four in the front two in a square, he has the ability to push forward and get into the gaps that are opened up by the pace and energy of Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo Goes as they pull defences apart in the final third.
Support network in Madrid
Off the field, many have been surprised by Bellingham’s rapid adaptation. His coaches for both club and country, Carlo Ancelotti and Gareth Southgate, have pointed to a maturity beyond his 20 years of age, but he also has a strong support network operating around him which has followed him from England to Spain via Germany.
He is joined in Madrid by his mother, Denise, while his father, Mark, stays in England with his younger brother Jobe, himself a successful footballer playing for Sunderland in the Championship. In fact, Jude spent his winter break travelling back home to watch his brother in action.
“They care about my well-being and know that our dreams are aligned. When you involve agents, there are their own incentives, their desire to make money... For me, it's never about that. I just want to maintain the family atmosphere,” he explained to L’Equipe in November.
Bellingham has been pictured on Madrid’s main street, Gran Vía, in the company of his mother, with fans shocked to see a Real Madrid superstar strolling down the road doing some holiday shopping. Videos of Bellingham sheepishly waiting to cross the road at traffic lights alongside his mom have gone viral on social media.
It has helped to blow away expectations, which were not set high by his predecessors. Bellingham has become only the sixth Englishman to play for Real Madrid, following in the footsteps of Laurie Cunningham, Steve McManaman, David Beckham, Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate. “He’s the least English Englishman we’ve met,” one source from the club told Relevo in the summer, referring to the notorious inability of English players to adapt abroad.
Bellingham has shown no sign of the usual struggles which saw Beckham’s family struggle, or Owen’s homesickness grow. While it remains early days in his time in Spain, he is no stranger to living abroad after three years in Germany with Borussia Dortmund after leaving his boyhood club of Birmingham City.
From Birmingham to the Bernabéu, it has been some journey for Bellingham, who has still only just started his 20s. “I want to do everything in the game. I want to be a footballing icon, someone that is remembered, someone who changed the game,” he told The Times in 2022. Two years on, the hero of Real Madrid, he is making good progress.
