In May 2023, pictures of an old scrapbook emerged. In the pages, printed in 2009, a young Jude Bellingham described his dream job: "A professional footballer for Barcelona and England."
Those comments, expressed by a child who had not yet reached his teens, were soon used as ammunition by Barcelona fans to declare, definitively, that Bellingham would sign for the Blaugrana that summer. They weren't the only fanbase to make lofty assumptions with little evidence, but their claim, based on the scribblings of a child, was among the more far-fetched.
Of course, things turned out differently. Bellingham signed for Real Madrid, and has quickly established himself as one of the best players in not just La Liga, but Europe. On Saturday, he will face off against Barca in his first taste of El Clasico, taking the field at the Olympic Stadium for Los Blancos in what could already prove to be a pivotal clash in the title race. It is the perfect contest for a rising star to show himself as being one of the world's best.
But those Barca fans who clung to old scrapbooks, it has since turned out, came closer than they might have thought to having their wishes come true. Although a host of clubs chased after Bellingham throughout his teens — Manchester City and Liverpool were also keen suitors — the Blaugrana had a real chance of landing him from Birmingham City before anyone outside of England's second city knew his name.
In 2019, in fact, Barca secured a meeting with Bellingham's father, Mark, only for him not to show up. The reasons why were only recently made public...