Jude Bellingham has had a HUGE impact at Real Madrid while Harry Kane has been the ‘perfect striker’ for Bayern Munich… but which England star has made a better start to life abroad?

• Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane embarked on big-money moves in the summer 
• Here, Mail Sport compares which England star has made the brighter start 
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ 

When you consider the backdrop of Real Madrid pre-Bellingham, the size of his impact starts to become clear.

Los Blancos finished 10 points behind La Liga champions Barcelona last season and were not competitive with Europe’s best either – after suffering a 5-1 aggregate loss to Manchester City in the Champions League.

To make matters worse, that was with all completed with recent Ballon D’Or winner Karim Benzema in their squad. 

Since then, he has left to Saudi side Al-Ittihad and Kylian Mbappe’s supposed move to Madrid fell through after he extended his current PSG deal until June 2025.

This meant, despite Benzema’s departure, the only striker brought in at Madrid this summer was Joselu – who has won no club honours.

Jude Bellingham has made a scintillating start to life at Real Madrid after joining in summer

Former Spurs star Harry Kane has also enjoyed a quick start since moving to Bayern Munich

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As well as this, two key players – Eder Militao and Thibaut Courtois – tore their anterior cruciate ligaments in the same week, keeping them out for long periods.

However, despite all of the aforementioned turbulence in the summer, Bellingham’s Madrid find themselves at the top of the La Liga table after ten games.

And to make matters better, Bellingham is not only Madrid’s top scorer, but the top scorer of the entire league after eight goals and two assists in nine appearances. 

It is becoming somewhat commonplace to see the former Birmingham City star with two arms raised in-front of a crowd. It’s a celebration that has quickly become iconic in Spain.

Adjusted to a more advanced role, Bellingham has gone from 0.4 goal involvements per 90 for Dortmund in 2022-23 to 1.17 goal involvements this season.

Playing further forward, he has licence to attack, deliver into the box more frequently and shoot from closer distances – which has seen his shots on target per 90 go from 0.91 at Dortmund to almost double that this season at 1.76.

Bellingham is the top goalscorer in LaLiga after recording eight goals for Madrid thus far

He has shown the ability to will his team forward and boasts 11 chance creating carries – the most of any La Liga attacking midfielder. Importantly though, he comes up clutch himself.

Two of his goals this season have been added-time winners, a 95th minute goal to beat Getafe 2-1 and a 94th minute winner to beat Union Berlin 1-0 in the Champions League.

The 20-year-old will continue to put his name alongside the greats. He joined Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas as just the fourth player to score in his first four games in La Liga in the 21st century.

The 20-year-old midfielder has helped lift Madrid to the summit of the La Liga standings

Kane, meanwhile, has proved to be the missing piece of the jigsaw for a talented Bayern Munich squad.

The Bavarians have had a Robert Lewandowski shaped hole since the Pole’s departure in 2022 and last season only won the Bundesliga on goal difference, after putting up their worse points tally since 2010-11.

But with the addition of an elite striker, Bayern Munich look revitalised and have quickly stormed up the table to third – two points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen.

Reflecting on Kane’s addition, Manager Thomas Tuchel said: ‘We have the perfect striker for us, and we are more than happy with him’.

He added, when interviewed by UEFA: ‘He is the first one on the training pitch and has a certain relaxed attitude. And if you are such a great player, everything that you do has an impact’.

Kane is already Bayern Munich’s most clinical debutant, setting a record for scoring nine goals in his first eight league games for Bayern Munich.

Harry Kane (middle) has scored nine goals from his opening eight games at Bayern Munich

Serge Gnabry was Bayern’s top-scorer in 2022/23 with 14 goals but Kane is on pace to beat that tally less than halfway through the season.

The multi-threat of Kane, who is also able to drop deep, has already added another element to the Bayern Munich attack – with Bayern not short of willing runners and pace.

After defeating Manchester United in the Champions League, Kane told CBS Sports Golazo: ‘The game today me and Jamal [Musiala] played more as number 10s and we allowed the wingers to almost play one v one against the fullbacks’.

The former Spurs star can be utilised in a number of ways, to the benefit of Thomas Tuchel (R)

Tuchel has a history of getting the most out of free-flowing frontlines previously, such as his Champions League winning side utilising Kai Havertz and Timo Werner.

And the England captain has already provided more league assists this season (4), than he did all of last campaign (3) – which is a testament to Tuchel’s work. 

His teammate Joshua Kimmich said: ‘He’s very good for our game because he’s a player who can both finish and put the other players in the limelight’.

This can be seen in the form of Leroy Sane who has six goals in eight Bundesliga appearances this season, two from Kane assists, after bagging eight in 32 in 2022-23.

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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