Jude Bellingham has just produced one of the best-ever performances from an England player at any World Cup.
The Three Lions travelled to North America as one of the favourites to lift the trophy, but despite Bellingham scoring seven, they were knocked out by Argentina in the semi-finals.
After a well-earned holiday, the midfielder will begin preparing for the 2026/27 season with Real Madrid. But it has now been revealed that the English star actually had a desire to play for their rivals, FC Barcelona, when he was a child.
Jude Bellingham wanted to play for FC Barcelona when he was a child
For those unfamiliar with Spanish football, Barcelona and Real are the two biggest teams in the country, and their infamous rivalry often produces some of the most entertaining soccer games each year when they face off in ‘El Clasico’.
Bellingham has played 10 games against Barca, in which he has scored four goals and provided two assists.
But in a post on Instagram this week, it has been shared that in his primary school leavers’ book, the now 23-year-old wrote down that he wanted to actually play for Barcelona and not Madrid.
The post states: “Long before he was starring for England, Jude Bellingham had already written the dream down.
“In his primary school leavers’ book, Bellingham said he wanted to become a professional footballer for Barcelona and England, and even wrote that his dream was to go on a football tour with David Beckham. Years later, he’s become one of England’s biggest stars and has even followed Beckham by playing for Real Madrid.”
Meanwhile, despite now playing for Cristiano Ronaldo’s former club, Bellingham has previously said that Inter Miami star Lionel Messi is better.
When asked to pick between the two greats in 2023, he said: “Messi for me, for sure. You can just watch him and think like ‘How does he do that?’ Every time I watch him, he just does something that I just think ‘You can’t be human’.”
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