Real Madrid lose Bellingham post-Club World Cup: What happened to their English star?

The wait is over. After 20 months of pain and setbacks, during which he played through ongoing discomfort, Jude Bellingham will undergo surgery this Wednesday in London. The English midfielder is set to go under the knife in the British capital to address a dislocated left shoulder he sustained during a La Liga match against Rayo Vallecano back in November 2023.

The recovery from this procedure is expected to sideline Bellingham, 22, for two to three months. He could miss up to ten matches for Real Madrid — including the first eight games of La Liga and the opening two fixtures of the Champions League.

The Real Madrid star had been delaying the operation to avoid hurting the interests of both his club and his national team during a tightly packed schedule that included two summers without a proper break. Last summer, he reached the Euro final with England, and this year he helped Madrid reach the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup.

But now, he simply can’t go on. “I’ve got a surgery scheduled for after the Club World Cup. I’ve been waiting for a long time and I’m running out of patience. The doctors, the physios… they’ve all been amazing, helping me so much every game. But I just want to feel free again,” Bellingham said after Madrid’s second Club World Cup match, against Pachuca, in which he was named MVP.

The ordeal began on November 5, 2023. Early in the La Liga match against Rayo at the Bernabéu, Bellingham dropped to his knees to chest a pass to a teammate and landed awkwardly. The result: a dislocated left shoulder that’s been bothering him ever since. He missed a couple of matches for Madrid and a few for England, but beyond a bulky protective brace, he kept playing as if nothing was wrong.

In total, he’s played through the injury in 100 matches — 86 for Madrid and 14 for England. Now, it’s finally time to stop, get the surgery, and come back fully fit.