This week in Lisbon, LaLiga chief Javier Tebas spoke about the impact of Jude Bellingham.
“It’s like he comes from another planet,” said the Spanish League president.
Stourbridge is not another planet, but it is a world away from the Spanish capital, where Bellingham has made a better start to his life at Real Madrid than any new signing.
And Germany’s eighth largest city, Dortmund, where Bellingham was previously located, also has very little in common with Madrid. Many expected the 20-year-old to have difficulty adapting to an alien environment. But just as he has done on the field, Bellingham has failed to make any progress in his new environment.
The signals were positive from the start. Shortly after his presentation he went out for dinner with two of the other newcomers to the club and he did so in one of Madrid’s most typical restaurants.
Jude Bellingham (center, in black jersey) was a hit with his teammates at Real Madrid, but the England star uses an app on his phone to understand locker room conversations
He has formed close friendships with Eduardo Camavinga (right) and Aurelien Tchouameni
The Englishman (second from right) has been described as being ‘from another planet’ in his form
Real Madrid fans have adopted him as a born Spaniard, which makes him different from others
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Bellingham sat down with 18-year-old Arda Guler, who had just arrived from Turkey, and 24-year-old Brahim Diaz, who had returned from a loan spell at Milan, at the ‘De Maria’ steakhouse, a 10-minute walk from the Santiago Bernabéu .
The restaurant’s walls are covered with photographs of its illustrious clientele (including many current and former Madrid players) and the tables are full, both at lunch and late evening, as Madridleños feast on Argentinian beef, the finest foie gras and side dishes. of soufflé potato chips, followed by ‘Dulce de Leche’ pancakes.
The new recruits did not have ‘access to all parts’ of the menu. For example, there were pineapple slices instead of the high-calorie alternative desserts – the pre-season weigh-in was already on the horizon.
But setting foot in a place so typical of the Spanish capital was a ‘start-as-we-mean-to-go-on’ statement from Bellingham at the start of his Spanish adventure.
His signing had raised several concerns when it was first rumored last summer. The price seemed high for a player who was still young (only 19 when he signed) and inexperienced with just two seasons in a top European league under his belt. And the second doubt concerned his nationality: British did not always suit Madrid.
He takes his fitness regimen and his diet very seriously and has strict plans to follow
He is reaping the benefits with many goals in his first season since joining Real Madrid
Chins were scratched and eyebrows raised at the prospect of “another Michael Owen who never expected to want to be in Spain; or even another Gareth Bale who left the club after seven seasons with a truckload of medals, but who never seemed to embrace the culture of his host country in the way the locals would have liked.
Bale has never given extensive interviews in Spanish, despite taking lessons when he first arrived at the club. Bellingham already threw Spanish phrases into interviews in preparation and charmed the club’s internal television channel with a genuine desire to speak in the native language.
He had an app installed on his phone that helped him understand the conversations in the locker room.
And this international break – with no matches as he is still recovering from his shoulder dislocation at the start of the month – will be a time to speed up the process a bit.
It is not easy. The club offers lessons, usually three times a week. But the training and playing demands tend to eat into study time and he hasn’t joined a club where Spanish is the only language spoken.
He has maintained a good relationship with Brahim, whose English is excellent, but he has also built strong ties with French speakers Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni and Portuguese speakers Vinicius and Rodrygo.
“He’s really nice,” Rodrygo said Cadena Cope on Monday. “He doesn’t speak Spanish yet and I don’t speak much English, but we get along well.”
Bellingham created a version of The Beatles’ famous Abbey Road photo for Real Madrid’s midfield. (L-R: Fede Valverde, Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni)
Bellingham has enlisted the help of a private chef from the stars Alberto Mastromatteo (right)
The international group can get by with a mix of different levels of Spanish and their own different levels of English. Fede Valverde is another in Bellingham’s tight-knit group. His Spanish with a Uruguayan accent is another test of Jude’s improved command of his new language, although he also speaks English.
Bellingham recently tweeted a mock-up photo of the young midfield quartet he is now part of, standing at a zebra crossing in the style of the Abbey Road album cover. It was after the Clásico, where Barcelona had made a big deal about having the Rolling Stones on their shirts and in the stands, but it was ‘Hey Jude’ who had scored twice to win the match.
Camavinga has only just turned 21, Tchouameni is only 23 and Valverde is only 25. In front of them are Rodrygo and Vinicius who are 22 and 23 respectively. It was perhaps inevitable that a group of players of similar ages and all young full internationals would have a lot in common, but Bellingham has helped foster a group spirit by taking care of the small details – the tweet of the Abbey Road photo is an illustration of that by. That.
He also arranged matters earlier this season to guarantee an exit for the young group. It was before the first international break of the season. It was his late goal, with just nine minutes remaining of an away match at Celta Vigo, that earned the team a day off.
The match was played on Friday and Carlo Ancelotti had promised both Saturday and Sunday off if they won the match. His late goal ‘Belli’, as his teammates call him, secured a trip to the Verde Beach Club in Saint-Tropez.
“What a day,” Tchouameni posted on Instagram after the Sunday excursion.
Embracing the social aspect of playing for Real Madrid in a way that no Brit has ever done since David Beckham became such good friends with Ronaldo Nazario and Roberto Carlos after signing in 2003 should not give the impression that Bellingham is in the moonlight dancing when he should. gets eight hours of sleep.
At home with mother Denise, who is with him in Madrid while father Mark remains in England with Jude’s brother Jobe, he is as professionally methodical with his free time as he is with training. And despite that very early expedition to the exclusive steakhouse, he takes his diet very seriously.
Bellingham lives in Spain with his mother Denise, while his father (far right) remains in England to help Real Madrid star’s younger brother Jobe (left), who plays for Sunderland
He has enlisted the help of the same chef, Alberto Mastromatteo, who helped transform Karim Benzema’s diet, keeping him fit well into his 30s; winning the Ballon d’Or at the age of 34.
Mastromatteo’s company Summumm looks after the physical and mental well-being of several top athletes around the world, including Bellingham’s teammate Camavinga and he now counts the England international among his clients.
Following a detailed biometric examination of Bellingham at the start of the season, a recommended weekly diet was sent to the Summumm chef who lives at home with the player and his mother.
The diet is believed to be rich in rice, oats, quinoa, fresh vegetables, fish and some lean meat.
But the philosophy of Summumm founder Mastromatteo is that young players also need to relax, and if an occasional plate of chips or a portion of Spanish tortilla helps with that, then that can only be a good thing.
Bellingham is a fan of both dishes in every respect, as you would expect from an Englishman who feels completely at home in Madrid.
