Jude Bellingham: Mourinho’s New Frank Lampard at Real Madrid?

Steve McManaman believes Jude Bellingham could yet become Jose Mourinho’s new Frank Lampard at Real Madrid – but only if the tactical jigsaw around Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior falls into place.

The former Madrid midfielder, speaking to GOAL on behalf of Disney+ ahead of Mourinho’s La Liga return at Espanyol this Saturday on ESPN, pointed out that Bellingham has already flirted with that late-arriving, goalscoring midfield role.

“I think he did that in his first year, didn’t he,” McManaman said, before sounding a note of caution. “Time will tell because the year before last he dropped a little bit deeper, and last year he struggled for goals.”

The arrival of Mbappé altered the landscape. Bellingham’s brief shifted, his influence nudged around to accommodate a global superstar.

“I think with the introduction of Kylian, his role changed,” McManaman explained. “But whether Jose will want to play that role this year, we'll have to wait and see. It seems that he wants to play Kylian, Vini Junior and Yan Diomande, and that's going to be the big point in the end, whether the space is there for Jude to make that front four.”

That is the crux: can Mourinho squeeze four attackers into a system that still carries his trademark control? In Spain, McManaman thinks there will be room – at least on certain afternoons.

“In La Liga, in certain games he'll get away with it, that front four, and he'll be driving forward and he'll certainly score goals Jude because that's what he wants to do and he loves to attack those avenues arriving late, so let's hope that happens. But we'll all have to wait and see.”

The real headache, in McManaman’s eyes, lies with the two headline acts.

Mbappé, Vini and the left-side logjam

“I think the biggest conundrum is getting the best out of Kylian and out of Vini Junior and seeing where they both want to play,” he said. The issue is obvious to anyone who watched the World Cup or Madrid’s recent seasons.

“As we know, and you only have to see the World Cup, both of them like to drift out to the left and both like to stand left, so it'll be interesting whose job it is to stay in the centre of the box and stay in the centre of the park because both like to come towards the ball.”

They score like strikers, but they are not classic number nines. Madrid know it. Mourinho knows it. McManaman spelt it out.

“They're both not number nines. I know they bought a young lad, Carlos Espi, who scored a couple of goals in pre-season already, he is a number nine and Gonzalo Garcia who's now at Fulham was a number nine.

“Vini Junior and Kylian are not, for all the goals they've scored, they're not orthodox fox in the box-type stuff.”

That opens a door for Bellingham. If the wide forwards keep drifting, someone has to attack the space they leave.

“So maybe it will be up to Jude to make that push into the box,” McManaman suggested, before turning his gaze back to Mourinho. “But I'm waiting to see what Jose does and what Jose changes and how Jose's going to help them operate because if you've got Yan Diomande crossing the ball into the box, who's going to be there to head them in because you know Kylian and Vini are not prolific in the air?”

That, for him, is the fascinating subplot of Mourinho’s second act in Madrid.

“I'm really interested in that side of what Real Madrid are going to do,” McManaman admitted.

The Lampard question, the Mbappé–Vini puzzle, the Bellingham runs into the box – Mourinho’s first La Liga line-up back at the helm will offer the first clues as to how he intends to solve all three.