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Matchday Pundit

The Special One
Returns to the Bernabeu

Thirteen years after leaving under a cloud, Jose Mourinho has verbally agreed to return to Real Madrid. Football never stops writing its most extraordinary stories.

Some stories in football feel inevitable even when you are not quite sure why. The Jose Mourinho return to Real Madrid has felt that way for weeks, and now it is confirmed. Fabrizio Romano broke the news on Sunday evening with his signature phrase, all terms verbally agreed, two year deal, the Special One is back. Within minutes, ESPN, NBC Sports, Sky Sports and every major football outlet in the world had confirmed the same thing. Jose Mourinho is returning to the Santiago Bernabeu 13 years after he left it, and he is doing so at a club in genuine crisis, walking into a dressing room that has been at war with itself for months, tasked with rebuilding a squad that has gone two consecutive seasons without winning a major trophy.

This is not a retirement appointment. This is not a nostalgia act. This is one of the most experienced and decorated managers in football history taking on one of the hardest jobs in the sport right now. And if you know anything about Jose Mourinho, you know that is exactly the kind of situation he has always relished.

The Confirmation

What Has Been Agreed and What Comes Next

Fabrizio Romano confirmed that all terms have been verbally agreed between Mourinho and Real Madrid and that the formal contract signing is expected to take place after Madrid’s final La Liga fixture against Athletic Bilbao. Mourinho is set to travel to Madrid directly after that game. Benfica, his current club, will receive 7 million euros in compensation, as the Portuguese had a contract at the club until 2027. Mourinho had a release clause in his Benfica contract that could be activated within ten days of the end of the season, and that window opened on Saturday.

The Key Details

Contract length: Initial two year deal.

Confirmed by: Fabrizio Romano, ESPN, Sky Sports, NBC Sports, Marca and AS.

Compensation to Benfica: 7 million euros.

Start date: After Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao, final La Liga fixture.

Previous spell: Real Madrid 2010 to 2013. Won La Liga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup.

Authority over transfers: Confirmed greater influence over squad decisions than previous incumbents.

President Florentino Perez has been the driving force behind this appointment. Multiple sources confirm that Perez became convinced Mourinho was the only man capable of restoring order to a dressing room that has become increasingly dysfunctional over the past twelve months. When Tchouameni and Valverde came to blows in training a few weeks ago, and when Mbappe publicly claimed he had been demoted to fourth choice striker by Arbeloa, Perez decided the situation required a certain kind of manager. Not a progressive. Not a developer. A strongman. And in football, when you want a strongman, there is really only one name at this level.

The Task

The Dressing Room

The Mess Mourinho Is Walking Into

Let me not sugarcoat what Real Madrid look like right now, because the context matters enormously for understanding why this appointment was made. Real Madrid have gone two consecutive seasons without winning a major trophy. They were eliminated from the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the quarter finals. They were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by lower division Albacete. Barcelona won La Liga comfortably ahead of them and their 29th title confirmed that the balance of power in Spain has shifted firmly away from the Bernabeu.

The dressing room situation is arguably more concerning than the results. Reports emerged of a physical altercation between Tchouameni and Valverde. Rudiger has been involved in separate incidents. Mbappe has been publicly booed and whistled by his own supporters at the Bernabeu, with a petition calling for his sale surpassing 73 million signatures. Mbappe then publicly stated he had been made the fourth choice striker by Arbeloa, telling the press he accepted it and played the minutes he was given. That is not a healthy dressing room. That is a fractured one.

2Consecutive trophyless seasons

3Managers in 18 months

73mSignatures on Mbappe petition

13Years since Mourinho left

And yet. Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Mbappe will not be sold, and that Mourinho is expected to be a key backer of the Frenchman within the squad. That is a significant signal. Mourinho has managed some of the most difficult egos in the history of the game, from Ronaldo at Real to Drogba at Chelsea to Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Inter. He does not shy away from strong personalities. In many cases he builds his best teams around them. The question with Mbappe is whether Mourinho can do what Ancelotti, Alonso and Arbeloa all failed to do and find a system that gets the best out of him and Vinicius simultaneously.

Transfer Plans

The Rebuild

Who Mourinho Wants and What He Demands

Mourinho does not arrive without a shopping list and he does not arrive without conditions. According to multiple reports he has been granted greater influence over transfer decisions than either Xabi Alonso or Alvaro Arbeloa were given. That is a significant concession from Florentino Perez, who has historically preferred to control the recruitment process himself. The fact that Perez has agreed to it tells you how desperate the situation at Real Madrid has become.

Three experienced players are already confirmed as departures. Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Dani Carvajal, David Alaba and Dani Ceballos are all leaving at the end of the season. Carvajal and Alaba are departing via free agency after contract expiry, while Ceballos is contracted for another year but will leave too. Mourinho inherits a squad that is losing three senior figures before he has even officially taken charge.

Rodri

Manchester City • Mourinho priority • Approx 60 million euros

Mourinho considers Rodri the ideal player to rebuild Real Madrid around. The Ballon d’Or winner has a contract at City until 2027 and could be available for around 60 million euros. The idea of taking City’s midfield cornerstone to the Bernabeu the same summer Guardiola departs the Etihad is a storyline that writes itself.

Victor Osimhen

Galatasaray • Mourinho demand • Approx 100 million euros

Mourinho has reportedly made signing Osimhen a condition of his return. The Nigerian striker, who Mourinho has publicly compared to Didier Drogba, is currently at Galatasaray after joining permanently for 75 million euros. Mourinho’s plan is for Osimhen to play as a traditional number nine, freeing Mbappe and Vinicius to operate wide where they are most dangerous. The attacking trio of Osimhen, Mbappe and Vinicius has already sent social media into a frenzy.

Defensive Rebuild

Right back, left back and centre back all prioritised

Transfer expert Sacha Tavolieri reports Mourinho has identified all three defensive positions as urgent priorities. With Carvajal and Alaba both leaving, the back line needs significant investment. Mourinho has always built his best teams from defensive solidity first. Expect this to be the foundation of everything he does at Madrid.

Osimhen. Mbappe. Vinicius. If Mourinho gets his way in the transfer market, Real Madrid in 2026 to 27 could have the most feared attacking trio in world football.

What the World Thinks

The Reaction

How Football Is Responding

“Mourinho, the Special One. I really want him to get Victor Osimhen to Real Madrid. I also want to see how he will manage the bulk of talent in Madrid from being individuals to being a team.”

Football fan reaction, The News Pakistan

“I respect the legacy, but hiring Jose again is a mistake. I am curious why fans believe dated tactics will work in 2026. He will not make any difference. This is just drama for a club that needs stability.”

Sceptical fan reaction across social media

Three popcorn emojis. Nothing more, nothing less.

Iker Casillas on X, the man Mourinho famously benched during their first spell together

Casillas posting three popcorn emojis is the response of a man who knows exactly what is coming. He and Mourinho had one of the most public fallouts in football during their time together, with Mourinho famously replacing him in goal with Diego Lopez and suggesting to the press that he simply preferred his backup as a goalkeeper. The two men have not reconciled publicly since. Three popcorn emojis from Iker Casillas is worth a thousand words.

Kylian Mbappe, for his part, was reportedly seen liking a social media post supporting Mourinho’s appointment. That tells its own story. A player who has been publicly feuding with his club, who was made fourth choice striker by his previous manager, has now been told by the incoming boss that he will not be sold and that he will be central to everything. The relationship between Mourinho and Mbappe will be one of the defining storylines of next season.

Marca, the Madrid based newspaper that has the strongest insider access to the club, headlined their coverage with the words “He Is The Chosen One.” That framing captures exactly what Florentino Perez believes he is getting. Not a caretaker. Not a transitional figure. The man capable of restoring order to the most chaotic dressing room in world football.

His Career

The Mourinho Record From Porto to the Present

Before we write his return off as nostalgia, it is worth reminding ourselves of what Jose Mourinho has actually done across his career. He won the Champions League with Porto in 2004, the first of the unfancied clubs to win Europe since Nottingham Forest. He won back to back Premier League titles with Chelsea. He won the Champions League with Inter Milan as part of the treble in 2010. He won La Liga with Real Madrid. He won the Europa League with Manchester United. He won the Europa Conference League with Roma in 2022, the first major European trophy in that club’s history.

His record at Benfica this season was unbeaten in the Primeira Liga, 23 wins and 11 draws, and he reached the Champions League knockout rounds. That is not a manager running on reputation. That is a manager still producing results at 63 years of age with limited resources at a club that finished third in its own league.

His failures are well documented too. Tottenham ended in disappointment. Fenerbahce was underwhelming. His second spell at Chelsea ended acrimoniously. He has always been a manager who burns bridges and creates enemies, and some of those enemies have valid grievances. But the record of what he has won and when he has won it is extraordinary. And right now, in the summer of 2026, Real Madrid need someone who knows how to win.

He said himself, back in January when the rumours first started, “Do not drag me into soap operas.” Well Jose. Here you are, in the middle of the biggest soap opera in world football, exactly where you have always thrived. The Special One is back at the Bernabeu. And for better or worse, Real Madrid just got a whole lot more interesting.

Matchday Pundit