Jude Bellingham has decided to banish the adaptation period for those who need it. His arrival in Spain was met with some scepticism in terms of position and immediate performance not because of doubts about his impressive potential but to fit in with the other midfielders and to understand his nature as a player following the departure of Benzema. And the impact could not have been more decisive and surprising. Or not so surprising.
One of the peculiarities of Real Madrid’s signings is that their own virtues end up imposing themselves on the tactical culture and it is their attributes and talent that end up playing, as happened with Camavinga when, in the absence of space in midfield, given his quality on the ball and his determination in duels, he ended up having a place at left-back. With. Bellingham something similar has happened.
If you look at his radar, in just 4 games he’s adapted seamlessly from playing as a more withdrawn midfielder to playing as an attacking midfielder who finishes and gets into the box a lot. He is doing less individual play, less dribbling and less driving in exchange for giving Real Madrid a lot of presence in the box, finishing and goalscoring. This is something extraoridnairo for someone who changes country and league and also his role.
It is even more interesting to be able to see the map of his total actions according to the area of the pitch. This first action map is the one from last season at Borussia Dortmund, where the highest percentages of actions performed (passes, dribbles, tackles, aerial duels, drives, finishes) were in the midfield area.
If we look at his map of actions by zones in these first four games, as the tip of the rhombus used by Ancelotti, the Briton is arriving much more to the box. If in Dortmund he was a midfielder with little involvement in passing and much incidence in the individual duel and individual play, now in LaLiga his first weeks have led him to be the most advanced player in the team, with an absolutely spectacular effectiveness in finishing: five goals in ten shots.
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