Jude Bellingham

Jude Bellingham is a midfielder for Real Madrid and England, born in Stourbridge and developed at Birmingham City, where he became the club's youngest first-team player and had his number 22 shirt retired when he left at seventeen. Borussia Dortmund signed him in 2020 and Real Madrid brought him to Spain in 2023.

He is a hybrid rather than a specialist. He defends like a holding midfielder, arrives in the box like a forward, and has been used across the whole middle of the pitch by club and country, which is why managers rarely leave him out regardless of system.

He won the Champions League and the Spanish league title in his first season in Madrid in 2024. For England he reached the Euro 2024 final and then drove the run to the 2026 World Cup semi-finals, the tournament that moved him from talented young midfielder to the player the national side is built around.

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