Real Madrid Sign 19-Year-Old Jude Bellingham for Record Breaking Transfer Fee

Big transfer bomb in Europe.

Already in history

One of the most anticipated transfers of the summer has come to an end – Borussia Dortmund have announced that their most valuable asset, 19-year-old midfielder Jude Bellingham, will move to Real Madrid. The transfer amount will be 103 million euros, and with bonuses it could rise to 134 million. The Englishman’s contract is for six years.

Bellingham is the new English star. He has already broken Mbappe’s record and is not shy about misbehaving on the pitch

The numbers are astronomical. Bellingham will become the 14th player to be paid more than 100 million euros and the first teenager. Jude is still 19 years old – he will celebrate his anniversary only at the end of June. At this age, people usually finish their first or second year of university, and Bellingham has already made history.

However, such a sum may shock only those who have not followed the Englishman before. In fact, despite his young age, Jude has long been playing at a high level and setting records. An amazing fact from his biography: three years ago, Bellingham’s native club Birmingham City retired the 22nd number, under which the then 16-year-old midfielder played. For world football, this is an unprecedented case, but Birmingham is far from being a provincial English club, but a permanent participant in the championship.

Outpacing Messi and Ronaldo

In 2020, Borussia paid 25 million pounds for the young man, excluding bonuses, and, of course, then few people understood what such money was for – at that time Bellingham spent only one season in adult football, but already had space prospects. Now it turns out that Dortmund hit the mark – in three seasons, the price of Jude has increased several times.

By June 2023, Bellingham had already become a pivotal player for England, not missing a single match at the 2022 World Cup. He has already played 200 games at senior level – 176 for clubs and 24 for the national team. To understand the scale and anomaly of these numbers, just take a look at this comparison chart from The Athletic.

Club level game statistics by 19 years 272 days (champions only)

Praise from Jerrard

Bellingham gets so much time for a reason – he brought Borussia huge benefits and became one of the main reasons why they fought for the victory in the German championship this season until the last minutes. In the Champions League, the Englishman is also successful: in the autumn he scored in each of the four opening matches of the group stage, including away at Manchester City, although goals are not his main function.

Crazy championship denouement in the Bundesliga. The drama of Borussia and the incredible character of Bayern

And what is the main one? Bellingham is good because it is multifunctional. Jude’s nominal role is box-to-box, but if necessary, he can play both in the “tens” place and deep in the support zone. Bellingham has a fantastic capacity for work, a strong character and incredible physical data for his age. This was also noted by Steven Gerrard, with whom the Real Madrid newcomer is regularly compared in Europe: “Until the age of 22-23, I didn’t have such power as Jude, and he is definitely more physically developed than I was,” the ex-midfielder admitted. “Liverpool”. “He is also more confident with the ball. And I’m not just saying this out of modesty, it’s true. He’s a lot further than I was at 19.”

In general, it was Liverpool that for a long time was considered the next place of work for Bellingham. However, last season showed that the Reds needed a large-scale and costly rebuilding of the team, so they had to forget about the Englishman. Manchester City have also been around all this time, but rather indicated interest and admiration for Jude, rather than taking concrete steps.

Future of Madrid

But “Real” was persistent, had the resources, as well as the need to strengthen the player of such a plan. This season highlights that Madrid need a makeover: they have won nothing but the Copa del Rey and have already parted ways with a number of players – Benzema, Hazard, Mariano Diaz and Asensio. At the same time, there is still the possibility of leaving Modric and Kroos, whose contracts are ending now, and no one has fully compensated for last year’s loss of Casemiro.

The arrival of Bellingham does not mean at all that Modric and Kroos will not renew their contracts. But Florentino Perez definitely sees their heir in the Englishman. The Croatian has played for Real Madrid for 11 years, the German for nine. It is likely that the history of Bellingham in Madrid will last as long.

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He also made the right choice. Jude could progress at Borussia, but at Real Madrid he will do it faster. Bellingham Dortmund outgrew, although it is strange to say so about the 19-year-old midfielder. By the way, he was recognized as the best player of the last Bundesliga season, which also indirectly speaks of his status.

“Real” is already the highest level. In any other case, there would be concerns about whether a young football player is able to cope with such enormous pressure. But Bellingham will manage – Jude has repeatedly proved that he is a leader by nature and even at such a tender age in some matches he was the captain of Borussia. At Real Madrid, he will definitely become a world star and, together with Mbappe, Haaland, Vinicius and other top players, will fight for the Golden Ball.