Jude Bellingham Returns to Training with Real Madrid After Surgery
The star midfielder Jude Bellingham has returned to training with his Real Madrid teammates for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery this summer.
Bellingham, 22 years old, underwent surgery on his left shoulder on July 16, after Madrid’s elimination in the Club World Cup, to solve a persistent dislocation problem that had affected him since 2023.
The England international was expected to be out for 10 to 12 weeks, putting him on track to return to Madrid in early October.
Photos and videos published by the club on its website and social media showed Bellingham participating in some training exercises with the group.
Real Madrid currently leads LaLiga with nine points after three matchdays, after defeating Osasuna, Real Oviedo and Real Mallorca.
The team visits Real Sociedad on Saturday, before hosting Espanyol and traveling to Levante, followed by a derby with Atlético de Madrid on September 27.
Bellingham has been a key player for Madrid since he joined in the summer of 2023 from Borussia Dortmund.
In his debut season, he scored 19 goals in 28 appearances in LaLiga, and then nine goals in 31 league games in the following campaign.
Under the new coach, Xabi Alonso, he was a starter in all six of Madrid’s matches at the Club World Cup, where he was one of the team’s most influential players.
Speaking in the United States, Bellingham said he was “fed up” with having to wear a protective shoulder strap, and that the surgery had “taken a long time to arrive”.
The midfielder dislocated his shoulder for the first time in a match against Rayo Vallecano in November 2023, and had chosen to manage the injury since then, until surgery this summer.
