There is no question that Arda Guler is an incredible footballer and is already one of the best pure playmakers in European football, and he is important to both the future and already the present of Real Madrid. Just last season, Guler had nine assists, and with more efficient play from the forwards and, yes, better coaching, Guler should get even more than that next season.
The thing is, there is a contingent of Real Madrid fans - or maybe they are just Guler supe fans above all else, even the club itself - who are trying to beat this drum incessantly that he is a better player than Jude Bellingham or that Jude is uncreative and should not start at Guler's expense.
But the comparisons between Guler and Bellingham are far from flattering for the former. Because as good as Guler is, everyone around the world can tell just watching the two of them side by side, especially at the 2026 World Cup this summer, that Jude is simply on another class.
Arda Guler is no Jude Bellingham
Bellingham is seriously the best midifelder in world football right now, and any doubts about that were dispelled thoroughly by the former Borussia Dortmund hero at this year's World Cup. Jude put England on his back and won them games they otherwise had no business winning, including against Mexico and Norway in the knockout stages, just as he did all tournament long when the Three Lions were runners up at the last European Championships in 2024. Meanwhile, Guler and Turkey were massive flops at the World Cup this year.
Arda Guler is a great player and can get even better, but it is telling that he is framed as a prospect, which he is, while Jude Bellingham gets treated like a grizzled veteran when he is only two years older at the age of 23.
In 2023/24, Jude was flirting with the Ballon d'Or and the Pichichi as a midfielder and was an every game starter and the central tactical piece to Carlo Ancelotti's team when Real Madrid last did the double - or won any meaningful trophy at all. That is telling, and Guler still has not proven he is at that level.
Not only is it insulting to fail to realize how brilliant Jude has been for Real Madrid, but it is also unfair to bloat Guler up there when he has not earned it yet. Everyone needs to be praised to what they have actually done, because otherwise, if Guler fails to play like an elite player, then he will get torn apart by people waiting to poke holes in those arguments. And that is not right for a young player's psyche at all.
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