Zinedine Zidane reveals his honest thoughts of 'unbelievable' Jude Bellingham
- Bellingham has become a superstar at Real Madrid
- The midfielder's idol is Zidane
- Zidane has praised the England international's performances at Madrid
Footballing icon Zinedine Zidane has hailed the impact Jude Bellingham has made at Real Madrid, admitting that he is a "big fan" of the England international.
Bellingham joined Madrid from Borussia Dortmund for a sizeable fee of around €103m (£88m) in the summer and has already more than lived up to his billing as one of the most exciting young players in the world.
The attacking midfielder has been an instant hit at the newly-refurbished Santiago Bernabeu, scoring a rather remarkable 20 goals in all competitions already - his career-best single-season goal tally.
The 20-year-old has developed into a truly world class footballer at Los Blancos while wearing the number five jersey previously worn by Zidane at the club, a number the youngster specifically chose due to his admiration for the France World Cup winner
Bellingham has previously talked about how big a fan of Zidane he is, telling MARCA: "Zidane is one of the best midfielders in history. I hope to preserve the legacy of his number and his boots."
Zidane has now returned the compliments, admitting to Mundo Deportivo that he is a "big fan" of the young midfielder and stating that the youngster has surpassed all expectations at Madrid already.
“He's an unbelievable player who does incredible things. You could have imagined what he was going to do, but he's surpassed all the statistics with what he's doing," said Zidane.
“Don't forget that he's only 20 years old. He arrived at Real Madrid with a lot of desire, a lot of goals and he is setting the bar very high. He's just showing everyone what he is and it’s great to see him like that. I'm a big fan of his and now we want him to win trophies with Real Madrid. It's everything he wanted for himself.”
Bellingham is currently out injured with a high grade ankle sprain suffered after bagging a brace in a win over Girona. The midfielder is set to be out of action for around three weeks.
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