A year ago
Speaking as a Real Madrid player for the first time, Jude Bellingham referred to the occasion as the "proudest day" of his life.
The 19-year-old England international was signed by Real on Wednesday, and on Thursday after agreeing to a six-year contract, he was introduced in the Spanish capital.
Bellingham, who relocated to Germany from his hometown club Birmingham in 2020, was acquired by the LaLiga giants for an initial fee of 103 million euros (£88.5 million).
Though Manchester City or Liverpool had been mentioned in connection with his return to England, he ultimately chose to sign up with the club that has won the European Cup a record 14 times.
Bellingham addressed the crowd while his parents looked on, saying: "Thank you for joining me on the proudest day of my life.
The day I became a member of the greatest football team in game history. There are many people to thank for helping me get here, including the employees of Borussia Dortmund and Birmingham City.Also in charge here (at Real Madrid) are Mr. President (Florentino Perez), scout Juni Calafat, and CEO Jose Angel.
Finally, Hala Madrid, and of course, most importantly, my family for all of the assistance and for making the transaction as simple as possible.
After playing a key role for Dortmund, who narrowly missed winning the league on the final day of the season, Bellingham was recently voted the Bundesliga player of the season.
Birmingham took the surprising step of having his number 22 shirt retired at St. Andrews after his transfer to Dortmund.
In 132 games in Germany, Bellingham went on to score 24 goals and win the DFB Pokal in 2021.
He scored his first goal for England in their World Cup victory against Iran, however he will not be playing for his country in the forthcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia due to injury.
Perez welcomed Bellingham to Madrid and later gave him his new Real Madrid uniform, with the midfielder donning the number five shirt.
At the unveiling, Perez said, "He chose to join Real Madrid, the most respected team in the world.
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