Every Problem for Jose Mourinho to Tackle at Real Madrid This Summer

The 63-year-old prepares to return to Madrid with a number of major issues awaiting him.

José Mourinho has a lengthy to-do list waiting for him at the Bernabéu. | Valter Gouveia/Sports Press Photo/Getty Images

José Mourinho looks set to be announced as Real Madrid manager in the near future.

The return of the “Special One” is now almost inevitable and it is widely reported that the Benfica manager has already agreed a two-year deal at the Bernabéu, with his arrival pending the outcome of the club’s presidential elections.

It’s fair to say the 63-year-old has a job on his hands.

Real Madrid will enter the 2026–27 season having gone two full seasons without a major trophy, while the last few months have been beset by headline-dominating, morale-sapping off-field drama.

Mourinho recently said his return to the club he coached between 2010–2013 would depend on what the Madrid hierarchy “expect from me”. With the club at its lowest ebb in recent times, it’s a fair ask.

The TL;DR version is that Mourinho will be expected to turn Real Madrid back into a feared, winning machine. However, in order to get the lights back on and all systems firing, he must first get stuck into a massive box of tangled cables.

Here are the most pressing orders of business on the new manager’s to-do list.

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Unite the Locker Room

Federico Valverde (left) and Aurélien Tchouaméni had a shocking fight. | Justin Setterfield/FIFA/Getty Images

The obvious one. Mourinho’s return appeared to get fast-tracked this spring after a serious of training ground incidents which culminated in Federico Valverde needing hospital treatment following an altercation with Aurélien Tchouaméni.

Even before the players started literally fighting each other in the locker room, Xabi Alonso reportedly described the current crop at Madrid as “impossible to coach” with player power out of control.

Club president Florentino Pérez is clearly looking for someone to project authority and instil discipline in a way that Álvaro Arbeloa clearly wasn’t able to do.

However, Mourinho, who once famously admitted his struggles to understand the modern player, is far from Carlo Ancelotti in terms of diplomacy. To many, the appointment of one of soccer’s most combustible forces now feels like bringing napalm to a knife fight.

He will need all the man-management skills that saw him succeed in the early years of his career at Chelsea and Inter Milan in order to wrestle bring peace and unity back to Valdebebas.

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Identify the Captains

Dani Carvajal’s exit leaves a leadership void. | Federico Titone/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Sergio Ramos is long gone. Toni Kroos too. And Luka Modrić. And Nacho Fernández. Current captain Dani Carvajal has now departed too. Real Madrid are running short on big leaders.

In the absence of the old guard, the new generation have not set the best example (see: Valverde’s fight and Vinicius Jr’s on-pitch tantrum in the Clásico). It is not immediately obvious who will inherit the armband this summer.

A feature of the best Mourinho teams has been his on-pitch generals from John Terry and Didier Drogba to Javier Zanetti and Marco Materazzi.

The profile of Madrid’s roster skews young and the challenge for Mourinho will be identifying the players with the Madrid spirit in them, able to step and lead the team on the pitch and off it.

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Get Rid of the Deadwood

Eduardo Camavinga is among those who could leave. | Dennis Agyeman/Europa Press/Getty Images

Incoming transfers will be a major focus this summer, but equally important will be clearing the decks—particularly with reports that Madrid may need to sell in order to spend.

After such a poor season, Mourinho will need to pick through the roster and identify the players who don’t merit a first-team berth for the coming campaign.

The likes of Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Ceballos, Raúl Asencio, Ferland Mendy and Gonzalo García are likely to be names for whom the club will listen to offers.

Mourinho’s ruthless lack of sentimentality may well be advantageous when undertaking this summer’s roster audit.

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Find Space for Mbappé and Vinicius Jr

The partnership between Madrid’s two star forwards has not always been smooth. | Sara Gordon/Real Madrid/Getty Images

...And convince the latter to finally sign a contract renewal.

Despite scoring 40 goals between them in La Liga alone this season, it’s a pretty uncontroversial take to say that Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jr have not clicked for Madrid.

Yet to win a major trophy together in two years, the two superstars appear to tread on each other’s toes and have come to personify the two factions at war in Madrid.

With neither easily sellable, Mourinho’s task will be coming up with a tactical system that reaps the benefits of both at the same time.

Mourinho does have some precedent in getting the best out of forward players. Many years ago, the Portuguese converted Samuel Eto’o into a winger, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s finest-ever scoring season came under Mourinho during the 2011–12 campaign, with a massive 60-goal haul in all competitions.

If he manages to get Mbappé and Vinicius Jr seeing eye to eye on the pitch (and off it), it will be proof that Mourinho’s best years as a tactician and a motivator are not yet finished.

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Fix Bellingham in His Best Role

Jude Bellingham is searching for consistency. | Diego Souto/Getty Images

Bellingham described himself as a “victim” of his own versatility as he discussed his personal struggles in recreating the numbers of his magical first season in Madrid.

The England international has endured his worst campaign in Spain, with just eight goals and five assists in all competitions—in part due to him being required to fulfil a number of different roles throughout the year. He has been another player to suffer from the introduction of Mbappé into the attacking equation.

It remains clear that the 22-year-old is one of Madrid’s—and the world’s—best attacking midfielders. Mourinho must find a fixed system that can properly harness his talents.

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Make Room for Nico Paz

Nico Paz seems destined to return to Real Madrid. | Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto/Getty Images

It seems inevitable that after a standout season in Serie A with Como, Nico Paz will return to Real Madrid.

His fine form in Italy has been a rare ray of hope for the club amid this season’s travails. However, exercising the Argentina international’s buyback clause won’t be a win in and of itself—Madrid must find a way not to waste another asset.

After flourishing in a No.10 role at Como, Paz will have to compete with Bellingham, Arda Güler and even Brahim Díaz for minutes next season. Integrating him a way that doesn’t see him over-exposed or under-utilized will be the challenge.

The same can be said of Madrid’s crop of Youth League-winning starlets.

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Bring in Three or Four New Signings

Club president Florentino Pérez will call the shots in the transfer market. | Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto/Getty Images

A deep-lying playmaker of elite quality has been required since Kroos left a gaping hole in the lineup two years ago, after riding off into the sunset.

Mourinho may not be the ultimate decision maker on transfers, but he will have more sway than most managers with Pérez and club CEO José Ángel Sánchez.

Getting the right type of midfielder in this summer will be the most important business Madrid do. However, there is more touch-up work to be done on the roster.

At least one center back is a must, with Éder Militão never reliably fit and David Alaba leaving. Mourinho is also reported to have requested a right back to replace Carvajal and provide competition for the at-times defensively suspect Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Could a new No.9 also be looked at? Madrid have missed the good old-fashioned chaos provided by a plan B option like 2023–24 hero Joselu.

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Managing La Liga Alongside Europe

Álvaro Arbeloa failed to juggle the demands. | Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Real Madrid’s season really came undone in April, when the club went on a four-game winless streak that saw them exit the Champions League and drop five points in the La Liga title chase.

This season, Madrid failed to win the league directly after a European game five times—a damaging amount for their hopes of staying competitive. Barcelona, by contrast, failed to win just twice after midweek European outings.

Mourinho must find a way to utilize roster depth effectively to manage the requirements of both Europe and the league in a way that Europe’s best sides have been able to do.

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Get the Winning Feeling Back

Positivity has been in short supply this season. | Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid/Getty Images

Under Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid simply felt inevitable—even when they weren’t.

Over the last two seasons, standards have slipped and their sense of self has been altered.

For all the jokes about “the prophecy” this season, Madrid are no longer one of Europe’s most feared opponents.

If there’s one thing Mourinho can do, it is making his teams truly horrible to play against. However, it will take time and experience to turn the club back into mentality monsters.

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