A new-look Jude Bellingham has been the talk of footballing circles this week after the England star made his Real Madrid return sporting a slimmed-down physique.
Bellingham, 22, played his first minutes of the season on Saturday as he came on as a late subsitute in Madrid’s 2-0 win over Espanyol in LaLiga, with his start to the season delayed owing to shoulder surgery.
The operation, which took place in July, has been a long time coming for the England midfielder, who had been struggling with the injury since November 2023.
As a result, Madrid staff bulked Bellingham up in order to help manage the issue. So now, with his shoulder fully recovered, the 22-year-old has been put on a programme to ‘supercharge’ his physique.
But how has Bellingham’s physique changed over the years? Daily Mail Sport takes a look in this picture special.
Jude Bellingham’s body transformation has been the talk of football circles this week
Birmingham City
Far scrawnier than the man who plays week in, week out at the Bernabeu today, Bellingham’s young peers at Birmingham saw a dramatic transformation when the midfielder was coming through the ranks in the West Midlands.
‘When I joined (Birmingham) as an under-15, he was injured, so he was doing his rehabilitation,’ his old teammate Kade Craig told the Athletic.
‘He was slight — very small and skinny — and then throughout the under-15s and under-16s, he just grew from one of the smallest to one of the biggest in the group.
‘He put on a lot of muscle. Blues did a lot of gym work with him and went the extra mile to really help his physical development. He went in the right direction after that.
‘It was as soon as I came in: you could see the way the club acted around him that they had high hopes for him.’
Plenty of young academy stars possess the skill to mix it with their senior rivals, but few managers look to throw them in the rough and tumble of the Championship given the physical nature of England’s second tier.
Yet this was not a concern for Bellingham, who was fast-tracked into the first team after playing just one game with the Under 23s as a 15-year-old.
Bellingham first made waves as a scrawny teenager when he came through at Birmingham City
Bellingham himself admits he had reservations as to whether he was strong enough when he was given his first team debut aged 16
Wayne Rooney came up against a young Bellingham and was amazed by his physicality
‘He was quite small, but you could see he was technically miles ahead of a lot of the lads,’ Ryan Stirk, who played through the age groups with Bellingham at Birmingham, told The Athletic.
‘In the under-23s, I felt like he played one game, came on and scored, and that was it. He went straight into the first team.’
And Bellingham found no issue in making the step up to first team football. He dominated in midfield, scoring four goals and providing two assists for the Blues, and was even tasked with man-marking Wayne Rooney during a contest against Derby.
‘I think he was about 16, maybe just 17, and what I really liked about him is every time I passed the ball off, he’d leave a stud in on me,’ Rooney told talkSPORT of his experience against Bellingham.
‘And I remember thinking, ‘he’s got something about him’, that mentality to perform, obviously he’s been captain in quite a few of the games as well, he’s going to be a huge player for England.
‘Just that mentality, even though he’s young, he can put some of that character into some of the rest of the squad in my eyes.’
Bellingham himself harboured reservations about his ability to make the step up.
‘I still felt I was a little bit off it physically,’ he said. ‘I was always in meetings where people were telling me how good I was, to be honest, and I never really wanted to believe it. I was always really harsh on myself, and I think that’s probably why people had to try to keep me positive.
‘I remember my league debut, the day before I was like… I’d done well in the training session and got in the squad, but you’re still not really expecting to play. And I’ll never forget Jeff[erson] Montero pulled his hamstring or quad, and then he was like: ‘Are you ready?’ And I was like: ‘Well, I’m going to have to be, aren’t I?’ I scored and kind of carried on my momentum in the team until now.’
Borussia Dortmund
Posing in a crisp white shirt while proudly showing off the iconic yellow and black strip of Borussia Dortmund, Bellingham looked a young man ready to make his mark in Germany, just as he did on Rooney at St Andrew’s.
It didn’t take long for his new teammates to recognise that Bellingham, at just 17 years of age, was primed to positively impact the team.
‘He was 17 and I saw immediately he had the strength and quality to play for this club,’ Dortmund legend Marco Reus reflected.
Bellingham grew in stature both physically and mentally after joining Dortmund in 2020
While still lean, Bellingham had no problem adapting to German football and captained his side
‘He’s someone who wants to always play 90-95 mins and gives his life for the club. He has a big talent, heart and you can see it in Madrid too. The stats speak for him, especially last year.’
And those positive noises reverberated outside of the dressing room walls, with the club’s hierarchy and legends of years gone by enthusing about their new £25million arrival from Birmingham.
‘Jude has integrated really well. With the boy you can tell that he is in his element, he was only out for a week,’ Sebastian Kehl said on German TV.
‘He is bursting with self-confidence. He brings us exactly this aggressiveness, this physicality in the midfield, which is very, very good for us.’
And Bellingham grew in stature both physically and mentally during his hugely successful stint in Germany, where he was handed the captain’s armband at the age of 19 when deputising for the injured Mats Hummels.
‘The coach [Edin Terzić] always says to me – and he’s said to me since, in the games where Mats [Hummels] has returned and taken the armband back – ‘You don’t need an armband to be a leader,’ and I’ve always felt that I can lead the team without having the armband.
‘The biggest part of leadership is that you lead by example with your performance first and foremost. ‘
Real Madrid 1.0
Bellingham, naturally strong despite his slender frame, didn’t truly undergo his body transformation until he swapped Dortmund for Madrid in the summer of 2023 following his highly-anticipated switch to the Bernebeu for £113m.
And in truth, it was only because he had to, having picked up a shoulder injury just a few months into his new life in Spain.
It would be a problem that he would carry for 20 months – in which he enjoyed a remarkable run of lifting the Champions League, LaLiga, UEFA Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, as well as leading England to the Euro 2024 final in Germany.
In an effort to reduce his chances of aggravating the injury, Madrid staff put Bellingham on a strict weights programme to bulk him up, thereby offering more protection to the affected area and prevent it from dislocation.
The results of that regime were on full display in a photoshoot for the clothing brand SKIMS, which is majority owned by Kim Kardashian, and he even had a snap with the American reality star.
But it was by no means a long-term solution for the 22-year-old, who could be seen wearing a shoulder brace underneath the iconic white strip of Madrid on a weekly basis.
And so in July, Bellingham returned home to the UK where he went under the knife in London.
It wasn’t until Bellingham joined Real Madrid in 2023 that his body began to transform greatly
Owing to a shoulder injury, Bellingham was ordered to bulk up to protect himself from aggravating the problem
He went on to enjoy a remarkable year where he won the Champions League and guided England to the Euro 2024 final in Germany
Real Madrid 2.0
Surgery done. Barring a nasty-looking scar, Bellingham emerged unscathed with the shoulder seemingly healthy and pain-free.
After a well-deserved break with family and girlfriend Ashlyn Castro, full focus turned to recovery, with Bellingham eager to make an impact under new Madrid boss Xabi Alonso.
And his efforts saw him make a welcome return on September 23, when he stepped out for Madrid’s win over Espanyol, but fans were quick to spot Bellingham’s slimmed-down frame.
That’s because Alonso wants his English star to take on a more ‘aggressive’ role in his team, with a leaner frame allowing him to hound the opposition and wriggle away from challenges when on the ball.
Bellingham’s toned figure was clear for all to see, and after the game he took to Instagram to express his delight in being able to play without discomfort.
The 22-year-old underwent shoulder surgery in July to address the long-term issue
Bellingham returned from shoulder surgery last weekend, where his slimmed down physique was noticeable
‘Missed this and all of you so much,’ he said.
‘Truly humbled by the love you gave me in the stadium today and the support from everyone throughout my recovery, it means the world to me. Now for more. Hala Madrid!’
Posting on Instagram after the surgery, he wrote: ‘Thank you to Andrew Wallace and Susan Alexander, their team and everyone at Fortius Clinic for the surgery and hospitality.
‘To Ivan Ortega and Dr Leyes for travelling to support. And finally, to everyone else for all the well wishes and messages of love. The process to come back has already started, see you soon.’
