Real Madrid announces Jude Bellingham as the club’s second most expensive deal

Real Madrid officially announced its new signing for the season this Wednesday (15): 19-year-old Jude Bellingham was presented at the club’s Sports Complex in Valdevebas, Spain. He will wear shirt number 5, the number that Zinedine Zidane once wore when he played for the club between 2001 and 2006.

Bellingham is a right-handed midfielder and started his career at Birmingham City’s academy. He signed his first professional contract with the club in 2019, aged just 16. A year later, his transfer was traded for €23 million to Borussia Dortmund, which in three years, capitalized €80 million, in the second most expensive transfer from Real Madrid in the club’s history. Bellingham thus occupies one of Real’s three biggest contracts.

_{Jude Bellingham performing for the England National Team (Photo: reproduction/Paul Ellis/AFP/LANCE!)}

Not by far, the deal with the athlete will surpass the biggest deal in Europe. Neymar’s transfer to PSG, in 2017, reached the figure of 222 million euros, a value close to that of his teammate Mbappé, negotiated a year later, for 180 million.

In the list of the ten biggest transactions of the Madrid club, there are names of world football, such as Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zidane. From South America, the highlights are James Rodriguez and Kaká. See the main list, with the amounts in euros and the date of the deal:

Eden Hazard – 115 million – 2019

Jude Bellingham – 103 million – 2023

Gareth Bale – 101 million – 2013

Cristiano Ronaldo – 96 million – 2009

Aurélien Tchouaméni – 80 million – 2022

Zinédine Zidane – 77.5 million – 2001

James Rodriguez – 75 million – 2014

Kaká – 67 million euros – 2009

Luka Jovic – 63 million – 2019

Luís Figo – 62 million – 2000

For the year 2024, the list of South American players for the Madrid team has already been expanded, with the sale of Endrick from Palmeiras, for 70 million euros. In May, the European press reported strong rumors of an accelerated deal by Real, with Athletico Paranaense, for the purchase of striker Vitor Roque. The initial value, stipulated by the club from Paraná, for a possible transfer, was 40 million euros. Negotiations depended only on clauses involving performance, a criterion that appears in Endrick’s contract with a goal already surpassed. The athlete scored five goals this season and Palmeiras took to their coffers, another 13 million reais, as a bonus.

Featured Photo Real Madrid announces Bellingham as the second biggest signing in its history. Playback/Instagram/@realmadrid