PETE JENSON: Jude Bellingham has had a bigger impact on Real Madrid than Cristiano Ronaldo did... midfield star is outperforming both Mbappe and Haaland and can become the best in the world

He is the best player at Real Madrid so far this season, but the manner of Jude Bellingham's start has left those at the Spanish club believing that maybe the England midfielder can be the next best player in the world too before long.

'Bellingham seems to be the only one who has realised that there is a vacant spot on football's throne since Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi left Europe,' said one sports editorial recently and it's beyond debate that he is currently out-performing the other contenders for the crown, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

Ten goals in 10 matches means he has had an even bigger impact than Cristiano Ronaldo, who also scored 10 in his first 10 games at Real Madrid, but without the three assists Bellingham also has to his name in that time.

The goals have been important too. The flurry of strikes have not included the late cherry-on-the-top goal in a game already won.

On the opening day of the season Bellingham scored Madrid's second midway through the first half in a 2-0 win against Athletic Bilbao – it was the goal that pretty much did for the Basques.

In the next game, against Almeria, Real Madrid went behind to a third minute goal from Sergio Arribas and who was it whose double turned the game on its head before the hour mark? It was Bellingham of course.

In Vigo he got the only goal of the game with nine minutes remaining to give Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Rafa Benitez's Celta. And in the next match he got the 90th minute winner as Real Madrid beat Getafe at the Santiago Bernabeu by 2-1.

In his team's first Champions League fixture of the season had it not been for his goal in the 94th minute Real Madrid would have made a poor start to their group campaign dropping points against the inexperienced Union Berlin.

'I'd rather score goals late in games,' he grinned post match. 

It's remarkable how, without coming across as arrogant, he manages to avoid the humble tropes so often churned out – better a dramatic winner than a non-dramatic one.

Against Girona in Madrid's next game it was his Luka Modric-style assist with the outside of his right foot that set-up Joselu to break the deadlock. Then against Napoli his 34th minute goal put Real Madrid 2-1 ahead. 

In the 4-0 against Osasuna he got the first goal again, and the second. His goals have almost always been strikes that have put Madrid in front or killed off the opposition.

Madrid's start to the season would be a shadow of what it has been were it not for Bellingham. The club's fans know it but so do the directors who were nervous at the start of the season when another summer had passed without them being able to sign the player they have never backed away from admitting they are desperate to sign – Mbappe.

The kids would have been screaming 'where is Mbappe' by this point were it not for the fact that they are all too busy mimicking Bellingham's goal celebration in the playground.

It was just before the last international break when the unthinkable started to be thought, and said out loud: would they now swap Jude for Mbappe? Increasingly the answer is no.

The world's best young striker may end up arriving in the summer of 2024 or perhaps not. It seems to matter a little bit less now because the best young midfielder is very much at the club and he is scoring the goals Madrid thought they would miss by not having bought the Frenchman.

Bellingham's age is yet another plus. 

It might sound far-fetched still to claim that he now rivals Mbappe but even if he doesn't yet there is a sense that he can eventually because he is just a few months beyond his 19th birthday – Mbappe is 24 already. 

Mbappe has won major international honours. England are increasingly seen as favourites to do likewise sooner rather than later, because they have Bellingham.

Maybe it's no surprise that Bellingham is this good this young because he has been a star since he was a 16-year-old breaking through at Birmingham and winning a move to Borussia Dortmund.

Those pundits and fans in Madrid who doubted his ability to adapt, just because he was British, underestimated how he had already matured far from home in the Bundesliga.

It also helps that he arrives post-Gareth Bale, someone who was never really comfortable engaging with supporters in the same way. 

The young supporters have responded to Bellingham not just with Instagram follows – Bellingham has gone from around 10 million to 19 million followers – but also with shirt sales. 

It's normal that his shirt is the most requested because he was the only big signing last summer but all the same the club are delighted with the way the No 5 shirt has flown off the hook in a way not seen even when Zinedine Zidane wore it.

Will all this fizzle out because of the intensity with which it has burned so quickly? 

It's true that his physical capacity is what's putting him in the penalty area in the 90th minute of matches and in a long season there might be dips in that particular power play.

But Bellingham is not just an athlete with an eye for goal. When the tank is empty he also has the brain to game manage and any shortcomings he might have in that area will quickly be made up with still having the old masters Luka Modric and Toni Kroos on the same training pitch as him.

It's difficult right now to see why the start is not just a taste of things to come. 

Madrid have never seen a player begin his career at the club in this way. Their incredulity has been reflected in the way Bellingham has been likened to every great former player. 

First it was Zidane; then it was Ronaldo, and last week it was Alfredo di Stefano. There is no greater praise at the club – and the Argentinian was not just the best player at Real Madrid in his era, he was also the best in the world.