Bellingham deal sets up Real Madrid midfield to dominate a decade 🧠 | OneFootball

Real Madrid have got their hands on the hottest property in European football.

Jude Bellingham will play his football at the Santiago Bernabéu next season after completing a sensational €103m move from Borussia Dortmund, but what does it mean for the future of the midfield in Carlo Ancelotti’s side?

The fulcrum midfield of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modrić have been mainstays as Los Blancos lifted five Champions League trophies between 2014 and 2022.

A generation-defining midfield that was pivotal to one of the most successful periods in the history of one of the biggest clubs in the world.

One of the most terrifying prospects facing any recruitment staff is how you rebuild a successful team when the current members’ time is up.

Well, Real Madrid have shown us all how to do it. This is Real’s new era beginning and it has been unfolding right before our very eyes.

Ancelotti now has a gluttony of options available to him in that department (along with Kroos and Modrić) in Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga, Fede Valverde and now Bellingham.

A process which begun in 2016 with the arrival of Valverde from Peñarol before Camavinga joined from Rennes in 2021 and Tchouaméni followed from Monaco last summer. Bellingham is the latest addition.

One of the most mouth-watering aspects about the four players is the abundance of traits they all have to their disposal, they are all multi-functional footballers that can adapt to what the game state requires of them.

Apart from Tchouaméni, who suits playing as a true holding midfielder, you can’t define what type of midfielder the other three are at this moment.

All of them boast the energy to play box-to-box, the ability to retain possession under pressure or carry the ball, the creativity to deliver chances and the prowess to score from long range or find themselves in the box for a simpler chance.

Valverde has also spent large parts of the last two seasons playing as a right winger in the attacking trio.

Ancelotti has an array of versatile and most importantly, talented players at his disposal.

And now he has just added one that could likely prove to be the best of the lot.

Bellingham arrives in the Spanish capital as, with add-ons included, the most expensive transfer in the club’s history. The teenage Galáctico. The crown jewel?

He is joining a team primed and ready to slot in to.

The team that has won four out of the last eight Champions Leagues is about to embark on a new era. Don’t bet against them adding to that haul.