Real Madrid has confirmed the signing of teenage sensation Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund, for an all-time English player record of €133.9m ($214m AUD) inclusive of add-ons.
The initial figure paid for Bellingham puts him 11th on the all-time list of most expensive transfers in the world, but together with add-ons, the eventual number would eclipse the record fee paid for a British player when Manchester City signed Jack Grealish for £100m ($186m AUD) in 2021.
To put Bellingham’s deal into context, the highest fee paid for an A-League player currently stands at $2.2m AUD, when Australian centre-back Matthew Spiranovic swapped Western Sydney for the Chinese Super League back in 2015.
It’s an astronomical fee for any player, let alone one so young, but Bellingham’s ascension to the lofty heights of Madrid is unsurprising given his incredible journey so far.
The Borussia Dortmund Captain joins as Real Madrid’s latest Galactico at only 19 years of age, and his meteoric rise has been nothing short of sensational. Starting out in England’s second division, Bellingham made his senior debut for Birmingham City on August 6th, 2019 – becoming the club’s youngest-ever first-team player at just 16.
Such was Bellingham’s lasting legacy with the English club, that Birmingham retired his 22 jersey when he left for Borussia Dortmund as the most expensive 17-year-old in football history.
Today, Bellingham joins Los Blancos as the third most expensive teenager in the world in another head-spinning transfer in football, behind only PSG’s Kylian Mbappé and Atlético’s Joao Felix, and with speculation already hotting up about Mbappé’s future, expect more sensational transfers as this summer window opens.