Jose Mourinho's biggest Jude Bellingham change is beyond obvious
Real Madrid superstar attacking midfielder Jude Bellingham took the world by storm once again this summer at the 2026 World Cup, scoring back to back braces for the England national team to lift them to tense knockout stage wins over Norway and Mexico.
Bellingham was England's best player in almost every game, and he added so much more than just the goals to help his team, defending at a higher level than any other midfielder in the tournament while also creating chances and carrying the ball progressively, again, better than any peer.
Whether he was a 6, 8, or 10, Jude regularly transcended the game, and it is baffling to see how Real Madrid were unable to get this out of Jude in the past two seasons, even though he was exactly this brilliant and the real Ballon d'Or snub from the Santiago Bernabeu in 2024 when turncoat Rodri won the award in a losing club season in the Champions League.
Jude Bellingham needs to be in scoring positions
Real Madrid played Jude Bellingham further away from the goal in the 2024/25 season, with Carlo Ancelotti even making him almost a defender in some matches. And Xabi Alonso and even Alvaro Arbeloa did even worse tactical management with Bellingham, pretty much divesting the team away from the England international.
At every single level of his career, Jude has elevated his teams and is a natural born winner. He is obsessed with winning and doing everything he can to help his teams win, and his sick obsession with winning will be shared by Jose Mourinho, who seems ready to what he can to build the team around Jude, just as it was in 2023/24 when Real Madrid last won the double.
Mourinho clearly has to put Bellingham closer towards the goal where he can make a bigger difference on games, and irrelevant of what Kylian Mbappe, who regularly underperforms in terms of actually winning meaningful silverware, thinks about Bellingham, Mourinho has to help Jude get into position to score 10-20 goals per season.
If anything, Mbappe, who frustrated Madridistas by moving away from the goal too often, will be a big fan of Real Madrid getting Bellingham into the box, since it will give the Frenchman more freedom to roam as he wants to.
Bellingham not only scores more when he is a No. 10 and behind the striker, but he also wins possession in more dangerous areas, leading to quick goals. And he can still track back, carry, defend, and do all those other great midfield things he does as a No. 10, especially in the fluid counterattacking Real Madrid system where they will play a bit deeper against top teams under Jose Mourinho rule.
