Jude Bellingham: Mourinho’s Potential New 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 Mbappe and Vinicius Junior falls into place.

Speaking to GOAL on behalf of Disney+, ahead of Mourinho’s La Liga return with Real’s trip to Espanyol on Saturday (live on ESPN), the former Madrid midfielder weighed up how Bellingham’s role might evolve in a forward-thinking side suddenly loaded with attacking stars.

Can Bellingham be Mourinho’s Lampard?

Asked whether Bellingham can be Mourinho’s “Lampard Mark II” in a more advanced, goal-scoring role, McManaman pointed back to the England star’s first season in Spain.

“I think he did that in his first year didn’t he,” McManaman said, noting how Bellingham thrived when breaking into the box from midfield. But the picture has shifted. “The year before last he dropped a little bit deeper, and last year he struggled for goals.”

The arrival of Mbappe changed everything.

“I think with the introduction of Kylian, his role changed,” McManaman explained. Whether Mourinho now restores Bellingham as a late-arriving finisher, or keeps him deeper to knit play together, remains one of the great unknowns of Madrid’s new era. “Whether Jose will want to play that role this year, we'll have to wait and see.”

What does seem clear to McManaman is Mourinho’s attacking temptation.

“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.”

A front four… but at what cost?

In some La Liga fixtures, McManaman can see Mourinho unleashing all of them.

“I think in La Liga, in certain games he'll get away with it, that front four,” he said. In those matches, Bellingham can surge forward, flood the box and punish disorganised defences. “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 optimism is laced with caution.

“But we'll all have to wait and see,” he added, aware that Mourinho’s reputation is built as much on control and balance as on star power.

The Mbappe–Vini puzzle

For McManaman, the real tactical headache sits with Mbappe and Vinicius.

“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 problem is obvious to anyone who watched the World Cup or La Liga last season.

“Both of them like to drift out to the left and both like to stand left,” McManaman pointed out. The question now is brutal in its simplicity: “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.”

Neither, in his eyes, is a classic penalty-box predator.

“They're both not number nines,” he stressed. Madrid have tried to address that profile. “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.”

Who finishes the crosses?

The issue becomes sharper when you factor in Yan Diomande’s delivery from wide areas.

“Vini Junior and Kylian are not, for all the goals they've scored, they're not orthodox fox in the box-type stuff,” McManaman said. So where does that leave Mourinho when the ball is whipped into the area?

“So maybe it will be up to Jude to make that push into the box,” he suggested, hinting again at that Lampard-style role, timing late runs to meet cut-backs and crosses.

But he is not pretending to know how Mourinho will solve it.

“I'm waiting to see what Jose does and what Jose changes and how Jose's going to help them operate,” McManaman admitted. One concern lingers for him in particular: “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 McManaman, is where the intrigue lies. Not just in whether Bellingham can become Mourinho’s Lampard, but in whether Real Madrid can find a true penalty-box reference point in a team full of players who prefer to roam.