Jude Bellingham is the sixth Englishman to sign for Real Madrid in 121 years, official as of July 1, making him the first Englishman to sign for Europe’s most successful club since Johnathan Woodgate’s forgettable transfer during the Galácticos era in 2004.

Interestingly, out of the six, Bellingham is the only one that has never played in the English top flight, given he was a youth product of Championship club Birmingham City, who have been in the second tier since 2011, and debuted as a 16-year-old in 2019 before being signed by Borussia Dortmund in 2020.

For context, here’s the other 5 players:

Laurie Cunningham was a focal point for West Bromwich Albion during the late 1970s in the old First Division, joining Viv Anderson as one of the first black players to represent England, then the ‘Black Pearl’ became the first British player to sign for Real Madrid in 1979 for a fee of £950,000, but after a La Liga/Copa del Rey double in his first season, injuries soon wrecked Cunningham’s time in the Spanish capital, playing his last match in white in 1982 after 66 appearances, although he would play several more seasons in Spain until his untimely death in a car crash in 1989.

Steve McManaman was a mainstay of Liverpool’s midfield during the founding years of the Premier League, being one of the so-called ‘Spice Boys’, moving to Real Madrid on a free transfer in 1999 (Liverpool had tried selling him to Barcelona years prior) as the last Madrid signing prior to Florentino Perez’ election as President, ultimately achieving great success with Los Blancos during the first wave of the Galácticos era, as he won 2 Champions League titles and 2 La Liga titles, scoring a superb volley in the 2000 Final against Valencia in Paris, all of which came in spite of the fact that the club routinely tried to offload him, but McManaman won over his teammates and manager Vincente Del Bosque and stayed until the title-winning 2002-03 season, after which Del Bosque was sacked and McManaman was released, much to David Beckham’s disappointment.

Golden Balls himself David Beckham was one of the biggest footballing names in the world at Manchester United, before falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson in 2002-03 after a legendary incident with a boot, leading to a bidding war in the summer between Barcelona and Real Madrid, with Madrid winning out as Beckham joined Raúl, Roberto Carlos, Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo as a Galáctico for £25 million, a fee Madrid recouped in Beckham’s marketing value alone, but success on the pitch was barren due to a variety of on & off-field issues, and Beckham ultimately moved to LA Galaxy after finally winning the La Liga title in 2006-07, making him the only Englishman to win the English and Spanish league titles.

Michael Owen was one of Liverpool’s greatest strikers (Despite various injuries), winning the Ballon d’Or in 2001 before signing for Real Madrid in 2004 for £8 million, but he spent most of his only season in Spain on the bench behind Raul and the Brazilian duo of Ronaldo and Robinho, ultimately scoring 16 goals in 45 appearances, before moving back to England at the start of the 2005-06 season as Newcastle United signed him for £16.8 million, which all told was a solid piece of business from Madrid given Owen’s injury history.

Johnathan Woodgate played Premier League football for Leeds United and Newcastle United, and was signed by Real Madrid in August of 2004 for £13.4 million, although he was injured at the time of his transfer and didn’t play at all until September 2005 (Despite Florentino Perez claiming he’d play in 3 weeks when he signed), and the belated debut against Athletic Bilbao was worth it as Woodgate scored an own goal and was sent off 65 minutes in, although Madrid still won 3-1, and after just 14 appearances in white thanks to repeated injuries, Woodgate returned to his hometown of Middlesborough, ending a nightmarish spell that once led to him being voted by Marca readers as the worst La Liga signing of the 21st Century.

Admittedly, that poll was done in 2007, so if readers had their time again, they’d probably change it to Eden Hazard’s stint at Real Madrid.

So there we go, if history is any guide the only things Jude Bellingham needs to avoid to be a success at Real Madrid is to not arrive injury prone, or be married to a Spice Girl.