There is something about the human psyche that makes another additional digit in a monetary figure look distorted, so when Jude Bellingham joined Real Madrid in summer 2023 for 100 million euros from Borussia Dortmund, instead of it being framed as a bargain deal by the wider media, all anyone did was focus on the figure itself than rather the player they were buying.
Well, three years later, and Bellingham is a Champions League winner and coming off a World Cup in which he broke records as a goal scorer, winning games on his lonesome. He has elevated Real Madrid when the club actually built the team around him, and when Thomas Tuchel finally embraced the former Dortmund star's quality in midfield, England were unstoppable.
What's crazy is, looking back at the Bellingham transfer, 100 million euros is not really much at all for a midfielder with his talent and upside. Real Madrid spent 80 million euros on Aurelien Tchouameni the previous year in summer 2023 from Monaco, so Bellingham barely cost more despite turning out to be ten times the player.
Aurelien Tchouameni is not at that standard
Because whereas Jose Mourinho is pondering how he can make Jude Bellingham an even bigger part of the team in the 2026/27 La Liga season, the Royal Whites are replacing Tchouameni as the main starting No. 6 in the starting lineup with Manchester City star Rodri.
Bellingham is chasing the prospect of the Ballon d'Or one day and was already the best player on a team that nearly won the Bundesliga title, won both the Champions League and La Liga, reached the European Championship Final, and made it to the World Cup semifinals. With players like Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, Vinicius Junior, Thibaut Courtois, Toni Kroos, Harry Kane, and Bukayo Saka in his XIs, Jude, at 23 or younger, managed to be better than all of them in the biggest games.
Aurelien Tchouameni is still valued by Real Madrid and manager Jose Mourinho, hence why he just signed a contract extension through the 2030/31 La Liga season, but there is no question that Bellingham is at a much higher level. And while Jude is a 100 million euro bargain, Real Madrid are realizing that the 80 million euros they spent on Tchouameni was not done as well.
Tchouameni would not fetch 80 million euros on the transfer market, which is probably why Real did not attempt to sell him to Manchester United and the other Premier League clubs offering substantially less. And then they have to sign Rodri for potentially 60 million euros, so a 30 year old off an ACL tear and with one year left on his contract is still a much better proposition than Tchouameni.
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