Jude Bellingham has come a long way since making his debut with England’s senior side in the 3-0 friendly win against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley on 12 November 2020. The Three Lions faced the same opponents at the same venue in the Nations League this evening and the Real Madrid playmaker, who featured in Lee Carsley’s last game in charge, and took a step closer to a curious record which is held by David Beckham.

Today at Wembley, Bellingham made his 40th appearance for England, but surprisingly, all of those caps have been gained while he has been playing for clubs abroad - 24 while he was at Borussia Dortmund and 16 during his time at Real Madrid.

The player with the most caps for England while playing for clubs outside of Great Britain is Beckham, who made a total of 55 appearances for the senior national team: Real Madrid (36), LA Galaxy (14), AC Milan (5).

Jude has already overtaken Beckham’s goals tally

Bellingham has scored 24 goals for Real Madrid in all competitions - overtaking Beckham’s tally of 20 during his four seasons with the Spanish giants. Now, he has his eyes set on Beckham’s caps record.

Let’s not forget that Bellingham is still only 21 and under contract with Madrid until mid-2029, which means he still has another five years at least to continue making appearances for England. This year, he has played in 13 games and missed four (he was left out of the squad for the friendlies against Bosnia and Iceland in June and missed the first two Nations League games, against Ireland and Finland, due to a muscle injury).

Jude’s next opportunity to boost his England stats will be the next international window in March 2025 when England will be involved in the Nations League playoffs. Should they advance to the finals, there could be another two games - the semi-final and final or third place game in June.

England’s 5-0 win over Ireland leaves the team top of Group B2 in League B.

Bellingham in a different role with England

Unlike at Real Madrid, where he has had to play in different midfield positions this season, Bellingham has a much more defined role in the England national team and the attacking midfield position behind Harry Kane belongs to him.

The English number ‘10′s physique helps him to have an impact in attack and in the current UEFA Nations League he has already scored one and set up another (an own goal by Odysseas Vlachodimos) in the two separate games against Greece.

Last season in Spain he was more free to play from midfield forward, playing behind Vinicius and Rodrygo in Ancelotti’s diamond-shape setup, but this year he is struggling a bit more. In spite of that, Jude remains an important player in Madrid’s first team. He has made 13 appearances with one goal and four assists.

With Thomas Tüchel taking the reins of the England job, Jude will be one of the pillars of the team heading into 2025.