REAL REASON
Jude Bellingham reveals the exact moment he decided to join ‘greatest club in the world’ Real Madrid
JUDE BELLINGHAM has revealed the exact moment that he decided to join “the greatest club in the world”.
The England star completed a £115million transfer to Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund this week.
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Bellingham has become the most expensive British player of all time and his transfer fee is the second-highest Real have paid for a player.
His arrival was made amid a huge fanfare by Los Blancos on Thursday as the 19-year-old posed for photos with club president Florentino Perez before a highlights reel of his best moments was played in front of an audience.
The ex-Birmingham City ace sat alongside his parents as the video played, although unfortunately he was unable to showcase his skills like previous Real transfer arrivals have often done as he is suffering with a knee injury.
Bellingham has been given the number five shirt - following in the footsteps of legend Zinedine Zidane who wore the same number during his spell at the Bernabeu.
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A host of clubs, including Manchester United and Liverpool, have been tracking the star for over a year.
But it is the Spanish giants that won the race to sign him, and now Bellingham has let slip what exactly convinced him to move to the Bernabeu.
And it was all down to watching them win the Champions League trophy 12 months ago.
He said: “I was at the final when Madrid beat Liverpool, that was a huge factor in my decision to join Real.”
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Bellingham has signed a £220,000-a-week contract that will earn him a cool £70million over the six years of the deal.
It is a huge rise on his £110,000 salary at Dortmund – yet the teenager could have earned almost double had he opted for Manchester City or United.
But cash was not high on his list of priorities when it came to crunch time.
He said: “I’m joining the greatest club in the world and it’s not about money.”
Bellingham then added: “Thank you very much. There's a lot of people to thank for getting me to this point - Borussia Dortmund, Birmingham City, the people that work there but also the bosses here and the president.
“And of course most importantly my family for all the support and making the deal as easy as possible.
“So thank you very much and finally, Hala Madrid!”
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