'He hasn't woken up' – Why Jude Bellingham is not the same player for Real Madrid this season
Today at 09:49 AM
Jude Bellingham’s woes at club level continued on Saturday against Barcelona.
The Englishman has struggled to replicate the form that saw him become an instant hit in his first year at Real Madrid, and things went from bad to worse as his side were battered 4-0 in El Clasico.
Second-half goals from Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha saw Real slump to a humiliating first LaLiga defeat of the season at home to their bitter rivals.
It proved to be a particularly frustrating night for Bellingham, who was unable to make his mark on the game.
His numbers during the contest paint a worrying picture, with the 21-year-old registering just one shot on goal, and failing to create a single chance, according to Statmuse.
This means that Bellingham is still yet to get off the mark at club level this season, a far cry from the player who scored ten goals from his first 11 league matches in his debut season last term.
And Spanish football expert Semra Hunter was quick to make this point, as she analysed the England hero’s dip in form on talkSPORT Breakfast.
Speaking to Jeff Stelling and Dean Saunders, she said: "He’s not the Jude Bellingham of last season.
"Last season, he hit the ground running straight away. He walked in with this huge presence to say: 'I’m here, I’m the leader, I’ll take responsibility'.
"Especially because Vinicius Junior was injured at the earlier stages of the season, so he took up that responsibility beautifully.”
The arrival of French superstar Kylian Mbappe in the summer has seen Bellingham deployed in a deeper role on the right of midfield this campaign, with Spanish media citing this as a reason for his goal drought.
Hunter agreed that this could be a factor in his contrasting fortunes in front of goal, as she compared his second year to his first.
She continued: "[Last season] He was scoring a lot of goals, he was playing in a different position.
“He was closer to the box, he was getting into the box more often. He was really playing like the box-to-box midfielder that he is.
"But Carlo Ancelotti was very smart in terms of tactically how to get the best out of Jude Bellingham.
"So oftentimes, he was the one that was coming to the aid, coming to the rescue, scoring very late goals to make sure that they would either get a draw or a win.”
One of these late winners came in last season’s equivalent fixture, as Bellingham netted in injury-time to seal a 2-1 comeback victory in his first ever El Clasico, scoring both of his side’s goals.
His heroics that day formed part of a stunning first year in Spain which saw him find the net 23 times in all competitions, as well as lifting the LaLiga and Champions League titles.
But with Bellingham’s struggles to influence games this term also at times an issue with England at Euro 2024, Hunter pointed to a lack of adequate recovery time from injuries as a potential cause of this.
She explained: "This season, he hasn’t quite hit that same form.
"I think a lot of it perhaps has to do with the fact that at the end of last season, he started picking up a lot of injuries.
“There was the shoulder and then I can’t remember if it was the ankle or something else, but he was dealing with a couple of physical issues.”
Hunter continued: "I just think that he’s maybe in need of a little bit more rest or at least something, because he hasn’t quite woken up to be that same player that he was last season.
"He hasn’t even scored yet in La Liga."
