Real Madrid fans have rather unfairly pit Jude Bellingham and Arda Guler against each other, and instead of appreciating both players for their quality, there has subtly been a Stan Wars in the fan base almost as nauseating as the battle pitting superstar forwards Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior against each other.
But whereas Vini and Mbappe are both Ballon d'Or level players on nearly event footing, the Jude comparisons do not do Guler any favors. While he is coming off a season with nine assists and is an incredible chance creator who literally led all Champions League players last season in that statistic, Guler is still quite one dimensional. Meanwhile, Jude was a center piece of the Real Madrid team that won the double in 2023/24, and he was one of the elite players at two international tournaments, carrying England to semifinal appearances at the 2024 European Championship and the 2026 World Cup.
Unlike the younger Real Madrid crowd, Jose Mourinho is not an emotionally driven, agenda mongering manager. As much as he does lean into emotions and evoke them from people around him to get a rise and get them to do what he wants, Mou as a person is actually highly even keeled and uses these emotions to his advantage.
Jude Bellingham is the main answer for Real Madrid
When it comes to making tactical decisions, Jose is purely about the football. And as Real Madrid fans wonder how he will use his team and line them up when the 2026/27 La Liga seaosn officially begins in about a week against Espanyol, the question of the No. 10 is a crucial one, especially since it involves two players who are expected to be personal favorites in Arda Guler and Jude Bellingham.
While Jose Mourinho 100 percent needs to utilize both and take advantage of their unique skill sets at the same time, the best player of the two is, by far, Bellingham. Guler is a better passer, but Bellingham is a better athlete, dribbler, progressor, leader, defender, and all around midfielder. It's like comparing Zinedine Zidane to Mesut Ozil; it's just not a fair comparison.
The drop off between Bellingham as a 6 or an 8 and Guler in that position is palpable, though we have seen flashes of Guler's brilliance in that old Andrea Pirlo role briefly under Carlo Ancelotti - and even this preseason with Jose. But when it comes to only starting one in certain situations, Jude is the better 10. He can score more goals and press the opponent more, and in the modern game, there is a lot more to winning in that 10 role than chances created or playmaking - numbers easily manipulated by stat padding and set pieces (just look at perennial Portugal flop Bruno Fernandes).
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