Jude Bellingham has signed his six-year contract with Real Madrid. He will wear number 5 in the future, like Zinedine Zidane once did.
Ex-Dortmund professional Jude Bellingham introduced himself to his new club, Spanish record-breaking champions Real Madrid, with a very brief but meaningful speech.
“I want to thank everyone who is here on the most important day of my life, my first day at the biggest club in the world,” said the 19-year-old England international at Los Blancos’ training center in Valdebebas, north-east Madrid.
Bellingham had previously signed the contract with club boss Florentino Pérez, which binds him to the top club for the next six seasons, where the Germans Toni Kroos and Antonio Rüdiger also play, among others. BVB will receive 103 million euros as a fixed fee for the midfielder and will also receive bonus payments up to a maximum total of around 30 percent of the fixed amount.
“Nothing is impossible with this shirt”
“Dear Jew, the moment you dreamed of has arrived. We thank you for doing everything to be here, we thank you for being a madridista,” Pérez said. “We will try to make you very happy here and that you achieve all your dreams. You will see that nothing is impossible with this jersey.”
But there were not only nice welcome greetings, but also clear words that show how high the expectations are of Bellingham and all Real professionals. “You come to the most popular and well-known club in the world, but also to the most demanding (…) At Real Madrid we never give up,” emphasized the 76-year-old “Presidente”.
Also, when the secret of the shirt number that Bellingham will wear was revealed on Thursday, it became clear how great the hopes are that the young Englishman in coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team will contribute a lot to the lost Primera División and Champions League titles to recapture it as soon as possible in the coming season.
“He will wear the 5, like (Zinedine) Zidane,” commented the Madrid specialist newspapers “AS” and “Marca” in unison. Frenchman Zidane, who was a star player at Madrid and later a hugely successful coach, is one of the club’s greatest legends. At a subsequent press conference, Bellingham said, “I know I have a lot of responsibility.”