Jude Bellingham finished third in the race for this year’s Ballon d’Or, and while there has been a lot of uproar over Vinicius Jr and Dani Carvajal not getting the recognition they deserve, the Englishman is barely spoken about.
After all, Bellingham has been a shadow of the goalscoring version he presented at Santiago Bernabeu last season and a big part of that has to do with the position on the field he has been expected to cover.
With Kylian Mbappe’s arrival, the former Borussia Dortmund star has been forced to drop into a central midfield role as opposed to the attacking midfield position he played last season.
Now, however, both player and manager are focused on returning him to his former niche as reported by MARCA.
A situation he understands
As revealed by the Spanish outlet, Bellingham has been selfless for Real Madrid all season, slotting into the position demanded of him making no issue of the same.
Now, however, Carlo Ancelotti has spoken to him and both parties agree that it is high time Bellingham is returned to the attacking midfield so as to improve his output in the final third and aid the team’s abysmal form.
Bellingham knows that it is only a matter of time before he plays in his favoured position again.
However, the player also understands the team’s need for him to cover deeper in midfield given the current injury situation and is prepared to do the same until need be.
So far this season, Bellingham has scored no goal for Real Madrid in any competition. Apart from simply playing away from goal, he has not shown any conviction even when presented with chances.
It is thus safe to say that bringing back his best may well be the key to Real Madrid salvaging their season. The player is desperate to restore the aura he had last season, and the manager will have a crucial role in the same.