The England midfielder has made a flying start to his Real Madrid career and scored a late winner on his Santiago Bernabeu debut on Saturday
Jude Bellingham made his Santiago Bernabeu debut for Real Madrid on Saturday, and what a debut it was.
The afternoon kick-off against Getafe was the first time the midfielder played at the club’s own stadium since his move, for up to £115 million, which already feels like a bargain, from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
Building work at the Santiago Bernabeu has meant Madrid have had to play their first three league games away from home. They have won all three. Bellingham has scored in all three (four goals in total) before adding another against Getafe in spectacular fashion in the 95th minute. Earlier this week he won La Liga player of the month, in his first month in Spain, becoming the first Englishman ever to do so.
Already Bellingham is being referred to as “el jefe”, the boss, and the impact he has had at Madrid is, even this early, simply extraordinary – not least in the way that this assured young man from Stourbridge, near Birmingham, has embraced Spanish culture.