Hey Jude, is that your lawyer?

Unveiling ceremonies for Spanish football giants are a big deal, particularly when one of them has splashed out £88.5m on a future English megastar.

Real Madrid fans were no doubt thrilled to see midfielder Jude Bellingham paraded at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, but a few might have wondered who the chap standing next to him was.

Alongside Bellingham’s family and club president Florentino Perez was the young man’s lawyer: Oliver Hunt, a founding partner of Onside Law, was included in the official party for the unveiling last week. 

Hunt is regarded by the family as part of Team Bellingham, having also advised Jude’s brother, Jobe Bellingham, on his own (slightly less headline-grabbing) move from Birmingham City to Sunderland this summer.

Mark Bellingham, Jude’s father, praised Hunt for having ‘helped us sift through all the legal stuff and made the complicated simple’.

Onside Law is developing a strong link with Real Madrid, having advised Caroline Weir on her transfer last summer to the Femenimo women’s team.

But a note of caution for Bellingham. The firm also worked on the successful deal to bring Belgian star Eden Hazard to the Spanish capital for around £88.3m back in 2019. Hazard would go on to win two league titles and a Champions League, but ultimately was regarded as a disappointing signing, playing just 76 times in four injury-affected seasons before being released this summer on a free transfer.