Arbeloa and the Bellingham puzzle

Arbeloa meant it as a compliment, but he ended up acknowledging just how difficult it is to fit Jude Bellingham into Real Madrid. He said so in his latest press conference, after the derby win. That result made it five straight victories, a run achieved without Kylian Mbappé or Bellingham in the team. Now both have to be worked back in. Mbappé will play in place of Brahim Díaz. That is simple, man for man. But what about Jude?

“The problem with Bellingham is that he’s very good at doing a lot of things,” Arbeloa said after the derby, admitting the challenge of finding the right role for him. “He’s very good close to the box, but he’s also very good deeper, where the play is built. He’s a player who can carry the ball through a lot of lines. So when you’re very good at so many things, you have to choose what is best for the team, and that can also depend on the game,” he explained. “So it’ll be up to me to find the right place for him, surround him with teammates on the field with whom he has a good feeling, good chemistry, who can move and combine with each other in the right way. It’s about getting the best out of all his qualities.”

The debate over Bellingham’s best position has spread to the England national team as well. There, Thomas Tuchel has made it clear that, in his view, Jude is “a No. 10.” There is an untouchable double pivot of Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson, and in the most recent 35-man squad there were four No. 10s competing for one place, as Tuchel himself explained. They are Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Morgan Rogers and Bellingham. No one in England is taking Jude’s place in the World Cup starting lineup for granted.

During qualifying for the summer showpiece, Tuchel’s team hit its best form, with six wins from six, 18 goals scored and none conceded, sealing qualification with two games to spare. In fact, Bellingham has been almost unused by England this season, playing in only two of the team’s six games – 14 minutes against Serbia and 84 against Albania. He will have only one more chance, in the final two games before the World Cup against Costa Rica and New Zealand, to clearly lock down a place in the starting lineup before the tournament.

Up and down at Real Madrid

Back at Real Madrid, the Englishman’s season has been a roller coaster. Xabi Alonso also hesitated when trying to find the right role for him. “I see him more as a midfielder,” the coach from Tolosa said early on during the Club World Cup. That view runs counter to Tuchel’s. Even so, for his first game as a starter at the Metropolitano, Alonso switched to a 4-2-3-1 so that Bellingham could play as an attacking midfielder behind Mbappé, bringing him closer to goal. The idea remained in place for the next few games, until a clear defensive imbalance emerged on the left flank because of Vinícius Júnior’s added difficulties tracking back.

Bellingham has had only one real bright spell this season, at the end of October, when he scored in three straight games – against Juventus, Barcelona and Valencia. But it was a mirage. In all, he has six goals and four assists in 31 appearances. That is nowhere near the 23 goals and 14 assists, and then 15 and 14, from his first two seasons at Real Madrid. Before Mbappé even arrived, his debut season was especially brilliant, earning him third place in the Ballon d’Or behind Rodri and Vinícius.

Madrid signed a midfielder and found a forward. Or a No. 10. And the Englishman still seems lost in that maze that first Xabi Alonso and now Arbeloa have been forced to explore in search of his ideal role. The debate is very much alive.

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