Jude Bellingham is 19 years old but ready to be Real Madrid’s everything

J ude Bellingham is a 4, an 8 and a 10 who wore 22 at Birmingham and Borussia Dortmund and could wear 11, 7 or 9 at Real Madrid. He cost €103m (£88.5m), plus about €30m in add-ons, has signed a contract until 2029 and is the sixth Englishman to arrive at the Santiago Bernabéu, 16 years after the last departed. Playing in his third country, 176 games into his career, he is an international with 24 caps who scored 24 goals and provided 25 assists in three years in Germany and won 482 duels last season, more than anyone else. He is also 19 years old and that may be the most significant number of all.

Nineteen. A teenager has just become the second most expensive player in the history of the world’s most successful club, a signing of huge symbolism and strategic significance. At the same time the news broke Lionel Messi was going to Miami because Barcelona do not have the money to bring him home, it was confirmed: for almost €140m total, their rivals had closed a deal with Dortmund.

Liverpool had pulled out in April, Madrid’s enduring power revealed. At a time when the discourse speaks of the dominance of state-owned clubs and England, a de facto super league, England’s best prospect will not be in the Premier League and that matters.

This matters more. Bellingham’s role and signing were planned and executed over a long time, not a response to results but a deeper analysis. Set to be presented at the Bernabéu, where the €800m renovation is nearing completion at last, and given the full galáctico treatment, he has become the central piece in the construction of a new Madrid. Already under way, even if the timings cannot always be predicted with precision and finding a place for everyone is far from simple, that will be