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Chelsea's 23-year-old captain Reece James recently congratulated his English teammate Jude Bellingham after the youngster bagged two goals in Real Madrid's 4-0 win over Osasuna on Saturday, October 7. He posted a one-word comment on Bellingham's post, which ended up garnering over 20,000 likes.
Ever since setting foot in the Spanish capital, Bellingham has been racking up goals for fun. The 20-year-old versatile midfielder once again shone against a lackluster Osasuna side, scoring two goals. In 10 appearances for Los Blancos so far, Bellingham has managed to rack up 10 goals and three assists across all competitions.
The Englishman's brace also saw him match Cristiano Ronaldo's unique record of scoring 10 goals in his first 10 matches as a Real Madrid player. The Portuguese superstar established this benchmark in 2009, a season in which he ended up bagging 33 goals in 35 appearances.
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The world of football made sure to let the youngster from Birmingham know of his humongous talent by showering praise on his Instagram post. Stars like Erling Haaland, Antonio Rudiger and Thibaut Courtois left encouraging comments on Bellingham's celebratory post that he shared after helping his side to victory over the weekend.
The comment posted by Chelsea's Reece James garnered more attention than others, amassing over 20,000 likes. He simply wrote:
"Serious."
A plethora of Real Madrid fans requested James to join their club in the comments section of the said post. James has been linked with a move to Los Merengues for some time now, with some reports suggesting that he has already been given the go-ahead for this transfer (via 90min).
However, the Chelsea captain has gone on record to state his love for the west London club, revealing his desire to stay in a 2022 interview with BBC Sport (via 90min).
Jude Bellingham was on Chelsea's radar earlier this year
Following three brilliant seasons in Dortmund, the English wunderkind was subject to interest from clubs all across Europe. While Liverpool and Real Madrid came out as the frontrunners to acquire his signature this summer, Chelsea were also in the mix, as reported by Football London.
The Blues had been scouting Bellingham since his Birmingham days but chose not to act on their interest. Furthermore, as per German journalist Christian Falk, the 20-year-old midfield sensation himself ruled out the possibility of a transfer to Stamford Bridge earlier this year.
Falk claimed that Bellingham rejected the idea of joining Chelsea as he was left unconvinced by the current Blues project. The German reporter stated (via Football London):
"I heard that, before Enzo Fernandez's move to London, Bellingham was looking at what was going on at Chelsea."
"Chelsea were interested but Bellingham saw there wasn't a clear plan at the club, so there wasn't a massive amount of interest in going there."
Instead, he chose to secure a €103m move to Real Madrid and hasn't looked back since.
