Hala Jude Bellingham. The unflappable 19-year-old has swapped Dortmund for Real Madrid, joining one of football's most storied clubs for just under £90 million. For a while, it seemed like either Liverpool or Manchester City would nab him, bringing him to the bright lights of the Premier League. There was firm interest from both – remember Jordan Henderson's “Hey Jude” comment getting Anfield all a-flutter?
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Unfortunately for two of England's big hitters, Jude passed on Liverpool for Los Blancos, dodged Manchester for Madrid. The move – to another foreign country, with the challenge of learning yet another language – might seem close to unthinkable for many watching a player not yet out of his teens. For Bellingham and Real Madrid, it makes perfect sense.
“I've been close to his story since he left Birmingham,” says journalist Guillem Ballagué. “I know he was crying – he didn't want to leave when he was told that he had to. Since then, quite clearly, he's made a huge effort to adapt.
“That is the first sign of intelligence, but also of a player that can develop. You haven't seen the best of him yet – being in two countries at such a young age makes you open your mind to influences, and helps you absorb any kind of teaching you get.”
“It was obvious fairly quickly he'd only have one season at Blues before moving on to play at a higher level,” says Brian Dick, who covers Birmingham City and watched the young Bellingham take his first steps in senior football. “The move to Borussia made perfect sense because of their reputation for playing and developing younger players, and while the rest of the world woke up to his command of midfields in the Bundesliga and even Champions League, Blues fans never had any doubt. Those hurdles were just as easily cleared as the ones he'd taken on at St Andrew's.”
For Madrid, a 19-year-old Jude Bellingham at less than £90 million is money well spent for a player who can galvanise a fresh-looking midfield and help replace the ageing Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos – whilst learning from them too. It's also a given that any sell-on fee will be astronomical. “He cost them €103+ million, but they believe they can sell him for 200 in four years' time. They're not going to lose money,” says Ballagué. “Meanwhile, they renovated the midfield and he's got personality, plus his box-to-box football guarantees a much more modern way of approaching the game. Let's see if [manager Carlo] Ancelotti can put them all together.”
It's also a very good thing for English football. You know the pattern: bright young talent breaks through at hometown club; gets big money move with ramped-up expectations; makes one mistake on the pitch (or off it) that's jumped on by a news-hungry and scrutiny-hyper English media landscape; not given room to develop; ends up good, but with a question mark over what might have been. Away from the day-to-day cameras and pens in England, Bellingham can remain a semi-enigma. How many of us watched all of Dortmund's highlights last season?
Granted, there is the small matter of Spain's propensity for eviscerating players at the top level deemed not good enough or simply not the right fit – just look at Gareth Bale. “You say he will avoid the scrutiny of England,” laughs Ballagué. “Well, wait to see the scrutiny of Madrid! You better be good, because it'll be the fans first of all, and the media next, who will demand a lot of you. That is obviously something that he's accepted.
“I don't think Real Madrid is the place where he's going to develop by teaching – it'll be more by experience. He's going to have to play a lot of big games, and he's going to find that, unlike Borussia Dortmund, at Real Madrid, it's all about winning. That develops a mentality… where you almost lead by example.
“You only have to look at Modrić, at Kroos, [Raphaël] Varane, or Sergio Ramos, or [Thibault] Courtois – they walk around and they look like they're made of something else, of another ingredient, not the usual. They're solid mentally, they don't give up. They improved, but as I say, by making mistakes that were scrutinised in detail.”
Ultimately, Bellingham was faced with an easy decision. For all the money and trophies* that Manchester City can boast, there's something about Real Madrid. Theirs is a history possibly unmatched in football, certainly in popular culture. Alfredo di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás; Florentino Pérez's Galácticos; Santiago Muñez in Goal II: Living the Dream. An offer from Real Madrid might never come again, especially as they look to rebuild a young squad ready to challenge for trophies in the modern era. Sitting alongside Vini Jr, Camavinga and Tchouaméni, while learning from some of the best to do it? The EPL can wait.
“After the World Cup, it became clear he was ready for another stage,” says Dick. “I'm pleased he has gone to Spain rather than to the Premier League, because the opportunity to add another style of football to his CV will only stand him in good stead. There's no such thing as a bad experience and it will be interesting to see how he adapts to the slower-paced La Liga.
“It's incredible to think that in four years he's gone from playing with workmanlike, journeyman Championship footballers to superstars like Camavinga and Vinicius Jr. At Real, he'll have the platform to win the trophies befitting his enormous talent.”
It's scary to think what a few years of consistently vying for domestic and European titles will do to a player who's arguably already England's best midfielder. Bellingham's impact at Birmingham City was so significant that they retired the number 22 shirt in his honour – at 17 years old. As Madrid's new number 5, we can't help but wonder whether Jude's new club has a similar impact in mind, especially when thinking of a certain other player to have worn the shirt…
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