He is 19 years old and all the lights are on his head. Clubs from half of Europe have fought over him, he has cost Madrid 103 million euros and his popularity is growing like wildfire. Jude Bellingham has long since entered the category of crack, both for what is strictly sporting and for what happens outside the green. He is on his way to becoming, if not already, one of England’s greatest ambassadors in the world and has managed to get his boyhood club (Birmingham) to retire the number with which he took his first steps in professional football. His list of merits is extensive. However, his way of managing them is Rare avis for a player of his youth. Far from ego and pride, the young British get used to a low profile that in his first weeks in white he has maintained.
He was exposed by whoever it was his first coach in the English team, Pep Clotet, in statements to this newspaper. In January 2020, when the greats of England wanted him, when Birmingham was beginning to become too small for him, when United called him up in Manchester to tempt him… Bellingham put his word before the siren songs, still with one lap to go. “All of England and half of Europe was behind him, but I never had to talk about it with him. He was focused on work. He told me that he only thought about helping the team”, revealed Clotet. According to the current Torpedo Moscow coach, the key is in those around him: “He belongs to a football family, to have his feet on the ground. He was always very protected by that family environment from all the media issue ”.
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His father’s tears on Bellingham’s first day in white gave proof of this, but the attitude shown by the player was even more so. At 19 years old, the personality and maturity that he displayed in his presentation impressed within the Chamartín entity. Specifically, two details. First, his public thanks to Vallejo (He also did it in private) for giving him the number 5 number. The second, his predisposition to absorb as much as possible from the older ones. As if it were a youth squad. Although by age it could be. “Playing with Modric and Kroos is a priceless experience for my career. I’m going to stick with them the first few weeksI hope you don’t mind,” he commented at a press conference.
The language, first objective
His talent has the club’s sports management in love, which is already rubbing its hands thinking about what it can contribute. English also knows of his potential. For this reason, from minute 1 when he arrived, he has put everything on his side so that it emerges as soon as possible. Starting with the language. Bellingham is already studying Spanish. He does it, as he himself stated in a chat with PA Media, “by watching interviews on television or with an application…”. His case contrasts with that of other English-speaking footballers who took years to speak something in Spanish. Among them, Beckam or Bale himself.
He also likes his knowledge of the club behind closed doors. She demonstrated it in a challenge recorded by the communication department in which only one question of all those asked failed. The players who scored in the 2017 final, the place where white fans celebrate the titles, the English players who wore the Real Madrid shirt… The British hit almost all of them. precisely from them, of his compatriots, has also expressed his desire to receive advice. He already did it with Beckham and he wants to repeat with McManaman, Owen and Woodgate (Cunningham died in 1989). A predisposition to work and a continuous desire to grow from learning that excite Chamartín greatly. He is already one of the best players in the world, but he continues with his roadmap. Bellingham is a low profile crack.