Jude Bellingham has officially completed his move to Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund in a deal that will likely rise to above €100m after all of the add-ons. He become Real’s third player after Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard to sign for over €100m after spending three years with Dortmund in the Bundesliga. He made a total of 31 league appearances last season, scoring eight goals as his side fell just short to Bayern Munich for the Meisterschale. Now he begins a new chapter of his career and is what Real Madrid referred to as “one of the best players in the world” in an official press release tied to his signing.
For a long while, Bellingham had been linked with Premier League clubs in England like Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool, but the offer to join Real Madrid was too great for him to resist. Because he is English, there was added clamor to a potential Premier League move, especially after a solid performance for England at the World Cup in Qatar, but that didn’t have too much pull for the player himself.
A good friend of Bellingham’s from their England youth team days, Bayern star Jamal Musiala is delighted to see his old pal move on to one of Europe’s footballing giants. “I’m happy for Jude. This is a big step for him. Maybe La Liga is a bit more watched worldwide [than the Bundesliga], but top performances do not go unnoticed, whether in Birmingham, Dortmund, Munich or Madrid,” he told SportBild recently (via @iMiaSanMia).
It’s an open secret that the Bundesliga is falling further and further behind financially with both La Liga and the Premier League. This is something that certainly aides in keeping the “farmer’s league” narrative alive for the non-avid German football fan, but executives within the DFL and DFB are constantly trying to strategize ways to help close those financial gaps. For now, though, it’s still there and Musiala is well aware of the fact that it’s far easier for players to gain recognition in Spain and England’s top flights.
“Maybe at Real Madrid, players can get more popularity quickly when they wear this shirt. For me the Premier League is the biggest league in the world. If you perform there, you cannot go unnoticed on the street anymore,” Musiala explained.