Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry has revealed the secret behind Jude Bellingham’s prolific start to life at Real Madrid.
Bellingham, 20, joined Los Blancos for €103 million from Borussia Dortmund this summer and has hit the ground running at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The England international has scored 10 goals and provided three assists in just 10 appearances for his new club, and Henry has praised Carlo Ancelotti’s new system for Bellingham’s immense form.
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“It is difficult to clip the wings of an instinctive player. You have to let him express himself with his instinct, but maintaining the structure,” Henry told L’Equipe, via Marca.
“Why do you think [Jude] Bellingham expresses himself well at Real Madrid? Because the structure allows it. Three midfielders give him stability from behind, and the forwards in front of him run and open spaces, giving him time to run with the ball.”
Ancelotti has moved to a 4-4-2 diamond formation this season, with Bellingham playing as a No.10 behind Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, who have been deployed as split strikers.
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As a result, Aurelien Tchouameni, Luka Modric, Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Toni Kroos have been left to compete for the final three spaces in Los Blancos’ midfield.
This positional change has seen Bellingham enjoy the best goal-scoring period of his young career to date.
While not a striker – something Carlo Ancelotti has been keen to stress – the Birmingham City academy graduate has become Real Madrid’s main source of goals this year and he has seemingly replaced Karim Benzema in that regard.
What is Jude Bellingham’s transfer value?
FootballTransfers’ in-house Expected Transfer Value (xTV) algorithm is the most comprehensive football player valuation system in the world and Bellingham’s value is incredibly high.
The Real Madrid star has an xTV of €125.4m – the third-highest value of any player in the world. Only Erling Haaland (€141.2m) and Kylian Mbappe (€136m) have a higher xTV than Bellingham.
