Erling Haaland revealed his pleasure at watching former Borussia Dortmund teammate Jude Bellingham succeed early on in his Real Madrid career.
Haaland and Bellingham played together at BVB for two seasons before the Norwegian striker completed a move to Manchester City for just over £50m in the summer of 2022.
Dortmund came within a whisker of winning the Bundesliga title during Bellingham's final season at the club, with the midfielder joining Real Madrid for an initial fee of £88.5m back in June.
Since arriving in the Spanish capital, Bellingham has gone a long way to endearing himself to his new fans, scoring five goals in his first four Real Madrid games - including a stoppage time winner at home to Getafe prior to the September international break.
Speaking to France Football, Haaland discussed how pleased he is for his ex-teammate.
"By the way, I saw the incredible debut of Jude at Real Madrid, and that makes me very happy for him," Haaland said.
READ THE LATEST REAL MADRID NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP
Haaland and Bellingham struck up a close friendship during their time in Germany. During England's 2022 World Cup campaign, the midfielder revealed how the Man City striker had been in touch throughout the tournament.
"Yeah we speak every now and then to be fair," Bellingham said in December 2022.
"Normally when we're both playing it's more often but it's normally silly stuff to be honest, just if he sees something that makes him laugh, or I see something that we've talked about before we'll send it to each other.
"But it's never like everyday, checking up on each other you know.
"He's always really encouraging to be fair. He messaged me after the first game and before the first game just saying 'good luck', and then he said 'well done' so yeah, he's a top guy."
Haaland's agent, Rafaela Pimenta, was recently asked whether her client could join Real Madrid in the near future, setting up a reunion with Bellingham.
"The open door can mean a lot of things. Our players can have the feeling that they have their destiny in their hands," she said to El Chiringuito.
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss Al Ittihad's attempts to sign Mohamed Salah, Jadon Sancho's Man Utd future, the players that could still leave the Premier League and more!
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
This article was originally published on 90min as Erling Haaland discusses Jude Bellingham's 'incredible' start at Real Madrid.
