Jude Bellingham and the Englishmen of Madrid: The players, the pundit and the lost grave
The way Spanish sports newspaper AS delivered its latest verdict, it was as if David Beckham were an Iberico ham hanging from the ceiling of a Spanish bar. “What a piece of Englishman,” it declared.
It was September 2003: after what was only his sixth Real Madrid game, against Marseilles in the Champions League, Beckham was decreed to have produced a succulent personal performance and his perceived national characteristics — endeavour, teamwork — were winning over an audience not known for its patience. Real approved of their new man, el Ingles.
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Beckham was a global superstar who attracted a particular kind of scepticism focused on his fame and commerce. In Real Madrid’s then 101-year history, he was also only the fourth Englishman to play for the Spanish giant, so it was understandable that additional questions should surround his provenance.
He had been preceded at the Estadio Bernabeu by Steve McManaman in 1999, Laurie Cunningham in 1979 and at the very beginnings of the club in 1902, Arthur Johnson (more on him later). Beckham was then quickly succeeded by Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate in 2004.
Having four England internationals in five years drive down Calle del Padre Damian meant English football had a stake in Real Madrid. But when Jude Bellingham makes his competitive debut for the club at Athletic Bilbao tonight, it will be almost two decades since an Englishman pulled on the acclaimed Los Blancos jersey.
In the intervening years, Real still looked to England for major players — Cristiano Ronaldo joined from Manchester United in 2009 and Welshman Gareth Bale arrived from Tottenham four years later — but when an Englishman next arrived in Spain’s capital, it was Kieran Trippier across the city at
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