JUDE BELLINGHAM will meet Real Madrid fans on Thursday as the most expensive English footballer ever.
Bellingham, 19, officially completed his transfer to the Bernabeu from Borussia Dortmund in a move that will rise to £115million.
The England midfielder 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.
Bellingham, 19, will be unveiled in a midday ceremony after a medical at Hospital Universitario Sanitas La Moraleja, in the north of the city.
It will take place at Real Madrid City, the club’s training complex, because of renovation work at the Bernabeu.
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His signing was greeted by Real’s Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior with the tweet: “Welcome to the best team in the world.”
Bellingham’s fee is £15m higher than the previous high for an English player, when Manchester City paid £100m for Jack Grealish.
He is the first British star to join the Spanish giants since Gareth Bale, who retired 12 months ago, in 2013.
Bellingham’s final campaign with Dortmund ended in heartbreak when they lost out on the title to Bayern Munich on goal difference.
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Yet it was a huge personal success, being named Bundesliga Player of the Season, and he said an emotional farewell to Dortmund fans in a statement.
Bellingham said: “Thank you to everyone at BVB for everything over the past three years. It’s been an honour to wear your jersey and I will never forget the journey there.”
Bellingham misses England’s two Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, but thanked Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate for his help in becoming a new Galactico.
He said: “England as a country are famous for kind of getting carried away and put a lot of pressure on people early but Gareth has done an amazing job in easing me in.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
