Jude Bellingham has been officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player after leaving Borussia Dortmund in a £113m deal, which made him Britain’s most expensive footballer after completing the switch to the Spanish giants.
The 19-year-old England star, who signed a six-year deal in the Spanish capital, was handed the number five shirt, previously worn by football icon Zinedine Zidane, who memorably scored wearing the shirt when Real won the Champions League in 2002, and then managed the club to three successive European crowns between 2016 and 2018.
Bellingham, who has 24 caps for England, said upon his unveiling: “Hello Madridistas, I wanted to thank everyone who is here on the most
important day of my life, on the first day at the biggest club in the world.
‘This is the greatest football club in the history of the game. I don’t think about money when I make these decisions. I play the game out of love. I love the feeling a got from the club. It wasn’t a case that the other options were not good ones; it’s just the feeling that I’ve joined the best.’
“I want to thank Juni Calafat, José Ángel, to the president… to everyone for bringing me here. And thanks to my family. Finally, Hala Madrid.”
On getting the club’s No.5 shirt, he said; ‘I’m not going to emulate him, I’m Jude, he’s Zidane.’
Asked if he was inviting pressure by taking it he replied: ‘You might think that, but I think the shirt alone is pressure enough. It’s an homage. I just want to do right by the number.’
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, added :‘We have signed one of the best players in the world’, he said. ‘Welcome to the club of 14 Champions Leagues. We have won five of the last 10 Champions Leagues, we never give in.’
Bellingham joins the La Liga club from Borussia Dortmund, after starting his career at Birmingham City.
