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Jude Bellingham has already matched David Beckham and made Real Madrid “forget about” Karim Benzema, claims his former manager at Birmingham.
Pep Clotet was the man to give Bellingham his Blues debut in August 2019 at just 16 years of age. From there he has gone on to star at Borussia Dortmund, before earning a big-money transfer to Santiago Bernabeu. The now 20-year-old midfielder has been a revelation in Spain, netting 20 goals, and is following in some illustrious footsteps.
Clotet has told The Telegraph of how Bellingham has countered the loss of a 354-goal striker in Madrid that won 14 major trophies for the Blancos: “Madrid had a fantastic striker in Karim Benzema. Now we all forget about him leaving because of Jude’s contribution. The pressure is really strong. The stadium is full. They don’t accept second chances in Madrid. And remember that here in Spain, and this is one of the things that I told Jude in Madrid, they do not have a history of good relationships between English players and Spanish football. Some players in the past have not lived up to what we expected. Some have – like Beckham, he was fantastic. So that was going to be pressure on Jude because people were wondering ‘we don’t know how it’s going to be’ and Jude changed all that. He changed it all.”
Football intermediary Kenneth Asquez, who works with teams in La Liga and the Premier League, added on Bellingham already emulating the efforts of former England captain Beckham at the Bernabeu: “His impact has been massive. Huge. It has been on a level with David Beckham when he arrived. But Beckham was more from a world-wide media and marketing point of view. Beckham was a great player but technically he is not as good as Bellingham. Beckham also arrived in a Madrid side that was on the crest of a big wave. Bellingham is in a team that is being rebuilt.”
Bellingham is poised to land a Liga title of his own in 2024, allowing him to match Beckham in those stakes, and also has Real in the mix for another Champions League crown – with Manchester City about to be taken on in the quarter-finals of that competition.
