Xabi Alonso ready to remodel Real Madrid tactics to reignite Jude Bellingham

Carlo Ancelotti’s pragmatic 4-4-2 has banked 81 league points this season—an average of 2.19 per match—and, despite a modest +42 goal difference, has kept Real Madrid on the podium. Incoming coach Xabi Alonso, whose 3-4-3 powered Bayer Leverkusen to an unbeaten domestic double and a record 34-game away streak, is prepared to shelve his trademark system because he believes Ancelotti’s shape is the quickest way to unlock Jude Bellingham.

The England star’s output has dipped to nine Liga goals and 17 total goal involvements after 31 appearances, a sharp fall from last year’s 19-goal explosion. Club analysts trace the slide to the deeper midfield brief he has carried since January. Alonso plans to push him higher on the left-hand side of the diamond, recreating the zone where Bellingham’s late runs once devastated defences.

Surgery on the 21-year-old’s troublesome left shoulder is pencilled in for July, immediately after the expanded Club World Cup, ending seven months of pain-management protocols. Meanwhile, Madrid’s new era has already begun with the capture of defender Dean Huijsen. Alonso has also asked recruitment chief Juni Calafat to pursue Jonathan Tah and Florian Wirtz—though Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester City have also opened talks for the latter. Leverkusen’s record of 89 wins, 32 draws and just 19 defeats in 140 matches under Alonso convinces the Madrid hierarchy that these targets are worth the battle.

Los Blancos wrap up La Liga away to Real Sociedad on 24 May before switching focus to the United-States-hosted CWC. Alonso’s first pre-season at Valdebebas will centre on drilling a 4-4-2 that liberates Bellingham’s penalty-box instincts while preserving the control that made Leverkusen historic.

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