Benfica Confirm How Much Real Madrid Will Pay for Jose Mourinho

The Spanish giants must pay five times more than expected to hire the Portuguese boss.

José Mourinho is on his way back to the Spanish capital. | Valter Gouveia/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Benfica confirmed Real Madrid intend to pay José Mourinho’s $17.4 million (€15 million) release clause to bring the “Special One” back to the Bernabéu for the 2026–27 season.

Club president Florentino Pérez announced Mourinho’s impending return on Wednesday as part of his re-election bid. The Spaniard made it clear the Portuguese boss is Álvaro Arbeloa’s successor, and an official unveiling will come if he defeats Enrique Riquelme in Sunday’s election—which he is expected to do so.

The spontaneous elections made it impossible for Real Madrid to lock down Mourinho for the low fee of $3.5 million (€3 million), only available for 10 days after the season ended. Now, they must pay five times that amount.

Benfica put out a statement on Thursday that Pérez’s candidacy for the Real Madrid elections “has expressed its firm intention to hire” Mourinho “should he win the elections for the presidency of this club, scheduled for June 7, 2026.

“If this scenario occurs, the contract will be signed for €15,000,000, corresponding to the termination clause of the current sports contract.”

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Why Pérez Is Bringing Back Mourinho

Florentino Pérez (left) is putting his trust in José Mourinho for a second time. | Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

Mourinho is a divisive choice to take over Real Madrid. The manager comes with a certain pedigree and résumé, but he also brings the threat of more unwanted drama, as well as underwhelming recent stints at Roma, Fenerbahçe and Benfica.

Mourinho was not even linked with the club for most of 2026, and then he suddenly became the frontrunner for the position, much in part due to Pérez’s belief in the manager.

“Mourinho is one of the world’s great coaches and he was very important for Real Madrid during his time with us,” Pérez told AS.

“He was the coach of that famous record breaking league season. He brought the team to very high levels of competitiveness and that was very important for everything that was achieved afterwards.”

Indeed, Los Blancos topped La Liga with a record 100 points under Mourinho’s watch back in 2011–12, scoring 121 goals along the way. Yet the president left out the turmoil that followed after, when the manager had public falling outs with Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema before his exit in 2013.

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Pérez Issues Plea to Real Madrid Fans

Florentino Pérez wants Real Madrid fans to trust in his vision. | Angel Perez Meca/Europa Press/Getty Images

It’s no secret that Real Madrid fans are fed up with the state of the club. Sold-out crowds at the Bernabéu routinely booed the players at every opportunity toward the end of a nightmare 2025–26 campaign, with Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior receiving the harshest receptions.

Fans also protested against Pérez, who quickly silenced any public displays of discontent. The president has since spent a large part of his campaign trying to win back the good favor of Madridistas across the globe, making all sorts of promises to take the attention away from a trophyless season and dressing room civil war.

Pérez believes Mourinho and a wealth of new signings, starting with Denzel Dumfries and the expected arrival of Ibrahima Konaté, will get the club back on track.

The 79-year-old urged fans “to trust us, as they always have.” He continued to AS, “I assure them we will have a great squad and a very strong team, with new additions. We will strengthen every line of the team to compete for every title.”

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