Two weeks of preseason in Valdebebas to build Alonso’s Bellingham: a ’10’ between Ancelotti and Dortmund

Jude Bellingham has 22 yearsbut he seems to have already lived several careers. grew up in Birmingham y Dortmund as a long-term interior, more midfielder than playmaker, but his signing for the Real Madrid and the plan Carlo Ancelotti elevated him to third position in the Ballon d’Or like a kind of false nine, released throughout the attack zone and arriving at the area. Almost more forward than hitch. Now, with Kylian Mbappé governing the lead (and the team) and with laughs y Tchouaméni sharing the base, Xabi Alonso seeks to build a ‘new’ Bellingham, the third in the Englishman’s short career, halfway between the footballer he was in Dortmund and the scorer that Carletto discovered.

“It has the potential to be able to do almost everything“Alonso said about him in his first days in Madrid. “He has restlessness and desire to grow and improve,” he added. And the fact is that the disappointment of last season He has made an impact on the white team’s locker room, especially in a Bellingham team that did not quite find its place and suffered pain in its shoulder throughout the season, playing all those months with annoying protection on its upper body. He was a left interior, a midfielder, a right interior… But his football, and that of the team, did not flow like in his first year.

scoring explosion

There, still without Mbappé and rodeado for viniicus, Rodrygo, chroos, Valverde and Tchouaméni, Bellingham scored 23 goals, gave 13 assists and he became one of the best players in the world, confirming Madrid’s bet on him: 125 million euros in the summer of 2023. He won the League, where he was chosen best player, and the Champions League. It was unstoppable.

The first Bellingham seen in Madrid was the evolution of the player who amazed in Dortmund. In it Signal Iduna Park They discovered a light adolescent soccer player, agile in turns, with pause in the game but with some verticality. More midfielder than midfieldermore builder than executor. The passage of time in Germany made him gain physical power and his game moved closer to the area, accumulating goals in his locker. He changed the six goals from 21-22 for the 14 from 22-23, his year before signing for Madrid. A scoring evolution that also spoke about the evolution of his game and his virtues.

The physical ability of the Englishman makes him “capable of almost everything“, as Alonso points out, who since his arrival at Valdebebas has Bellingham, Camavinga and Güler at the top of his list of players with whom he would like to work and transform. That is why the club has celebrated that the British stayed in Valdebebas during this national team break. Tuchelwho claimed to have seen him “without rhythm”, left him off the England squad list and Madrid’s ‘5’ stayed in the capital.

In the sports city, Bellingham has had the two weeks of preseason that it could not enjoy in the summer, gym and lawn. He had shoulder surgery a couple of days after returning from the Club World Cup and since then he has only had rehabilitation, something that has been noticed in his game.

This course was called for the first time before the Olympique de Marseilledebuted playing one minute against the Espanyol and played 19 against him Levante before the Madrid derby. At the Metropolitano, and by surprise, he started, staying on the pitch for an hour and being one of those singled out for the defeat against Atlético. In theory, the idea was for him to play as a midfielder behind Mbappé and moving Güler to the right winga plan that went wrong because the Englishman barely connected with his teammates and physically appeared far from his best level. He was more of a second striker than a third midfielder, and the team noticed it.

“It’s not worth answering about that now,” said Alonso, asked if, if he could, he would make the British starter again. The reality for Bellingham is that after the derby he was a substitute in Almaty and against VillarrealAlonso demonstrating with gestures and not with words that English was not yet ready for great efforts.

“On the way back, with two more weeks of trainingit will be better and it will be important for the October phase. Now we have that time because a large part of the preseason was lost,” the coach explained. That time is key to fitting Bellingham into a scheme that appreciates the presence of Güler between the lines and Mastantuono on the right.

Alonso wants the Turk closest to Tchouaméni because he is the one with the best footing and pause, and Bellingham between the lines, taking advantage of the arrival to the area that he showed with Ancelotti but also being an anchor with the midfield. Working on defensive transitions and showing off the ball. He doesn’t just love him as a reacher, but as all-rounder. A ’10’ between what it was in 2023 and what it was in 2022. All in a lineup that could displace, and condemn, Fede Valverde to the right back. These are the puzzles.