Jude Bellingham, lastly, is having shoulder surgery. It arrives this Wednesday back in London, so Real Madrid will be without one of their most valuable midfielders for two or three months. According to As newspaper of Spain initially reporting, this report reveals something many weren’t quite willing to say publicly. For almost enough two years, Bellingham played with a dislocated shoulder. He knew he was hurt, played through, ajusted his game, but literally just toughed through. That’s not only rare. It’s downright troubling.
He was injured back in November 2023, playing against Rayo Vallecano. He chest-punted, knew something right away, hobbled off with his shoulder. Since that time, everything wasn’t quite right. He played 100 games since, some bodily limitations – 86 for Real, 14 for England national team. All of which he was doing with a shoulder brace, eking through round-the-clock physios,ugging through what he said “fatigue.” Not even once, 100 percent fit.
Well, now, just when the new campaign is set to get going, he will, at long last, hit the pause button. He will miss a maximum of a possible ten games: eight of LaLiga, two Champions League group stages. That is not a small gap. And the reality of the facts are, this could’ve all been fixed long before. Injury was not the big concern. Inaction towards injury was.
Shock at losing the English superstar
This was not just Bellingham saving. Europe’s soccer calendar leaves nothing, if anything, for recovery. He was being tugged every which way, Real Madrid, England national team, tournaments, friendlies, knockout, and the World Cup. It was never a moment that there wasn’t another match.Never a time he could not grind some more. Until he could not.
Since Real triumphed over Pachuca at the Club World Cup, Bellingham could wait no further. He said, “My patience is running out. Doctors, physios… they’ve all been brilliant. Supporting me every game. But I just feel like I want to be free now.” It was not a remark after the match. It was a silent confession that he could wait no further. The surgery was now necessary.
Europe's calendar and the abandoned corpse
What stands out most for us here is not that the recovery took a long time. It’s that the wait was so long. Why wait so long for something so serious? Bellingham isn’t the first player to wait for a doctor visit, and he won’t be the last. In elite European Soccer, the pace never drops. It never gives a reprieve. It doesn’t, honestly, give a day off.
There are preseason tours galore for the teams. National team obligations, qualifiers, friendly matches for adverts, simultaneous tournaments. It leaves players like Bellingham stuck in the middle, having to be available match after match, even if he is atrocious. Body warnings are taken more seriously than otherwise. What ensues? This. A world-class player playing till he drops.