With Jude Bellingham set for his Real Madrid unveiling, he’s got a lot to live up to from another Englishman who made the move.
The departing Borussia Dortmund superstar has made the transfer official with a £88.5million deal that could reach £115m.
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The British record transfer fee may sound a lot for a 19-year-old, but Bellingham is no ordinary teenager, with 176 senior appearances to his name and 24 England caps.
However, despite his obvious superstar status and Galactico pedigree at such a young age, he still doesn’t quite compare to David Beckham.
The former England captain was a certified superstar when he made the trip from Manchester United to the Bernabeu in 2003, and it didn’t take long to see why Real were so keen to pay a then whopping €37m for his services.
Instead of taking his customary no.7 shirt which was owned by Raul, Beckham went for 23 due to his admiration for Michael Jordan, and despite the late number reveal, shirts still went flying off the hook.
Speaking to The Times, the then-Real president Ramon Calderon said: “We knew that English players are very important for the Asian market.
“When we introduced him [Beckham] to the press it was in 2003, nearly 1,000 journalists came. We did that at 11am because he could make the broadcast news in Asia where he is very popular.
“That day we sold 8,000 shirts. The idea was that those players really gave a lot of interest from around the world and that could attract the sponsor to be on the shirt.”
The previous record had been 2,000 when Brazil star Ronaldo joined.
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Capitalising on the huge interest in Asia even further, Beckham and Real soon jetted off to their first ever pre-season tour of the continent.
Arriving in the Kunming Airport in south China in July, Beckham was surrounded by an astonishing cast of stars including Iker Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luis Figo.
Yet despite that, all the locals cared about was the ponytailed Englishman.
Speaking during the tour, director and club legend Jorge Valdano said: “I understand the media’s interest in David, but we’ve come with 25 Real Madrid players.”
An adidas spokesperson added: “Put Beckham’s name on any product and Real Madrid didn’t stop selling.”
While Beckham himself even said: “From what I know, Real Madrid have signed me to play football.”
For Bellingham, he’s set to face similar number drama as his trademark no.22 is currently owned by Antonio Rudiger, meaning printers will be on the ready for an official announcement all across Asia.
