‘Ballon d’Or Race’—Jose Mourinho’s Bold Jude Bellingham Claim Serves As Dig to Alonso, Arbeloa

José Mourinho has admitted he expects Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham to be in the Ballon d’Or conversation after doing away with a tactical shift that plagued his time under former managers Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa.

After two strong years under Carlo Ancelotti, the 2025–26 campaign was a bruising one for Bellingham. A return of eight goals and five assists in 40 games is by no means poor, but fell well short of expectations for a player who had contributed to a total of 66 goals across the two previous seasons.

Bellingham has been back to his best during the early weeks of the Mourinho era, racking up two goals and two assists in three games. He ran the show in Sunday’s 4–0 win over Málaga, after which Mourinho explained exactly how he has rejuvenated the Englishman.

“Bellingham is not only a top player, but also a leader,” Mourinho reflected. “He’s very demanding of himself, and demanding of his teammates. I really like that about him.

“He is in the Ballon d’Or race. What he does as a midfielder is absolutely incredible.”

Mourinho continued: “Bellingham sometimes defended like a second left back last season. I told him I do not want to see that any more. I made a deal with him.

“With Benfica, when we won [against Real Madrid in the Champions League], that kept happening, Jude dropping deep on the left. He knows what he has to do. He feels comfortable doing it.”

Mourinho Seeking Solution to Impossible Conundrum

José Mourinho is working to fix a problem his predecessors could not. | Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Mourinho appears to have landed on a fix to Bellingham’s slump, having restored the 23-year-old’s freedom in a team which does not always afford such luxuries.

Last season, Alonso and Arbeloa both struggled to find a way to get Bellingham shining in the same team as Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior—two luxury players who are also at their best when freed of their defensive responsibilities.

It was Bellingham who often sacrificed his attacking tendencies to try and maximize those of Mbappé and Vinícius Jr last season, and the midfielder even admitted in April that he may have been a “victim” of his own versatility.

Mourinho has made it clear this season that his team will not tolerate passengers on the pitch, which serves as a direct warning to Vinícius Jr and Mbappé. Indeed, with Bellingham operating as a “second left back” in Mourinho’s eyes, it is clear the new boss believes he was covering for his left-sided teammates far too often.

The other forwards will be expected to fulfill their own defensive responsibilities and find a way to make that work in attack. Bellingham has passed the early test and does not appear to have negatively impacted Vinícius Jr (one goal, two assists) or Mbappé (four goals) in the opening weeks of the season.

This is the sort of impact Madrid fans want from their big names. To say Mourinho has figured everything out would be an overreaction at this stage, but the early signs are incredibly positive.

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