Real Madrid has still not announced a new coach to bring order to the chaos starting this summer. José Mourinho has long been ready, but must still wait for the official announcement—apparently with costly consequences.
Actually, everything is set in Madrid for the announced solution on the coaching bench. Following the unsuccessful stint of Álvaro Arbeloa, who succeeded the rather quickly ousted Xabi Alonso, José Mourinho will take on the challenging role at Real for a second time. There has been no doubt about this for quite some time—and even his predecessor, Arbeloa, had already described the Portuguese coach as “the number one” at the end of the season.
But why, then, have the Royals still not presented Mourinho—who is set to sign a three-year contract running until June 30, 2029—as their new head coach as of early June? The sticking point is said to be the presidential elections in Madrid—scheduled for June 7—which incumbent Florentino Pérez had called at short notice and on his own initiative, despite holding office until 2029. And these elections apparently have costly consequences.
As The Athletic now reports, the deadline by which Real Madrid could have bought Mourinho out of his existing contract with Benfica Lisbon for six million euros expired last Friday. Well-informed sources at the top Portuguese club are now speaking of a sum of 15 million euros that Real Madrid must transfer to Lisbon to finally pry Mourinho—who is still under contract until 2027—away.
It is not a sum that will seriously break a sweat on Perez’s forehead, nor one he would be unwilling to pay for his absolute dream solution. Yet the situation illustrates quite well how deep the rifts are, how significant the personal sensitivities have become at the royal court—and just how many off-field issues Mourinho will have to tackle.
Is Mourinho already planning with Dumfries?
However, the situation shouldn’t stop Mourinho from having long since begun planning his squad for the upcoming season. One controversial personnel decision keeps cropping up: For the right-back position, for which Real Madrid had just signed Englishman Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool FC last summer, Mourinho is reportedly favoring Dutchman Denzel Dumfries. He is expected to leave Italian champions Inter Milan for the fixed buyout clause of 25 million euros.