VINICIUS JR contacted Jude Bellingham “almost EVERY DAY” for a year trying to get him to join him at Real Madrid.
The England superstar joined the LaLiga giants from Borussia Dortmund in a £115m deal this summer and has already made a huge impact.
GettyVinicius Jr has revealed he texted Jude Bellingham for nearly a year straight[/caption]
Madrid beat off a host of Premier League competition from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and United to land the 20-year-old.
Bellingham has scored eight goals in nine appearances for Los Blancos and inspired them to several late and key victories.
And his team-mates appear to be delighted to have him alongside them – especially one.
Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr revealed after Bellingham’s wonderstrike in the 3-2 Champions League win at Napoli just how much effort he had gone to in order to persuade the ex-Birmingham City man to sign.
He said: “I wanted Jude at Real Madrid.
“I sent many messages to Bellingham last year. I was texting [him] almost every day and I was telling him: ‘Come to Madrid’.”
Meanwhile, Bellingham was keen to heap the praise on his new South American team-mate.
He said of Vinicius Jr: “He’s probably the best in the world for me.
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“He’s one of the most talented players I’ve ever played with.”
Even though he has only played for the club a matter of months, Bellingham has already equalled a number of stunning landmarks set by Madrid legend Ronaldo.
The ace made his league debut in August and scored in a 2-0 win over Athletic Club.
He then continued his red-hot start by scoring twice against Almeria and then clinched the win with a late goal over Celta Vigo in his third outing.
That made Bellingham the first player since Ronaldo to score in each of his first three La Liga games for Madrid.
But he wasn’t done there as he went on to hit a 95th-minute winner on his home Madrid debut against Getafe.
That matched the Portuguese icon’s feat of scoring in his opening four Real games.
Bellingham has equalled another feat set by Ronaldo after his Champions League strike against Napoli on Tuesday.
The youngster’s late winner a fortnight ago secured a 1-0 home victory against Union Berlin in their opening group match.
He has now become the first player to score on his first two outings in the Champions League for Madrid since Ronaldo did it back in 2009.