Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid: World Champions and New Signings
Jose Mourinho finally gets his Madrid back.
After a fragmented, makeshift pre-season built around absentees and academy hopefuls, the Real Madrid manager will walk into Valdebebas on Monday and, at last, see the squad he was hired to shape. The holidays are over. The World Cup hangover ends here.
World champions, new faces, and a superstar return
Five names change everything.
- Marc Cucurella
- Kylian Mbappé
- Aurélien Tchouameni
- Ibrahima Konaté
- Jude Bellingham
are all due to report for duty as Madrid enter the fifth week of their summer work. Medical checks first, then the real business: training with Mourinho for the first time as a complete group.
For Cucurella and Konaté, it is more than just a return. It is a beginning. Both joined earlier in the window, but this will be their first proper session as Real Madrid players in a full senior setup.
Cucurella arrives as a newly crowned world champion with Spain and one of the club’s marquee signings of the summer. Konaté walks into a defence that Mourinho will try to rebuild in his own image, piece by piece, duel by duel.
Mbappé and Bellingham, meanwhile, rejoin as the centrepieces of a project that now has Mourinho’s name stamped all over it. Tchouameni, fresh from another deep international run, drops back into a midfield that has been the subject of debate all summer.
Behind on rhythm, short on time
There is a catch. The returning internationals are late to the party.
While the rest of the squad have been grinding through four weeks of work, this group is behind in match rhythm and conditioning after their extended World Cup breaks. Mourinho’s task is delicate: get them ready fast, but not foolishly fast.
He does not have much margin. Real Madrid still have two key friendlies before the season starts: Deportivo La Coruña in the Teresa Herrera Trophy on 12 August, then Schalke 04 in Germany on 16 August.
Those games are no longer just warm-ups. They are live auditions. Minutes for Mbappé, Bellingham, Cucurella, Konaté and Tchouameni to move from holiday legs to La Liga speed, and for Mourinho to start testing combinations that resemble his true XI rather than a pre-season patchwork.
Mourinho’s second act in Madrid really starts now
Up to this point, Mourinho’s return has felt like a rehearsal without the lead actors. Academy talents such as Alexis Ciria have impressed and earned trust, but the real judgment on this Madrid will only begin when the heavyweights are on the pitch.
This is the phase where the outlines become a picture. Shape, pressing height, partnerships, who sacrifices for whom. Until now, the clues have been scattered and incomplete.
There is another layer. For all the aura and history attached to his name, Mourinho has not exactly dominated European football in recent seasons. At Real Madrid, that reality matters. The Bernabéu can switch from embrace to impatience in a handful of games.
The calendar does him no favours. Madrid open their La Liga campaign against Espanyol on 22 August. That gives Mourinho just under two weeks with a full squad to integrate the late arrivals, settle on a spine, and decide who belongs in his first competitive XI of this second spell.
Some big decisions are coming quickly. Some big reputations too.
A midfield left wanting – and a different kind of market move
If there is a fault line in this squad, it runs through midfield.
Madrid’s grand plan to reinforce the heart of the team never fully materialised. Rodri said no. Bernardo Silva is the only significant addition in that area, and while his quality is not in doubt, the overall revamp many expected has not arrived.
Inside the club, there is little appetite to force a late, expensive deal. The message is clear: the market does not offer a midfielder they consider worth the cost and complication right now. Mourinho, for his part, insists he trusts the squad he has and does not need extra signings for the sake of it.
That does not mean Madrid have stopped looking. The focus has simply shifted to the future.
Eyes on Racing Santander’s Sergio Martínez
In the background, scouts have been tracking a different profile: Racing Santander’s teenage midfielder Sergio Martínez.
The Spanish outlet SPORT reports that Madrid have been following him closely as a possible move for this summer. Officially a midfielder, he is described as a high-quality talent with excellent ball control and tactical understanding, backed up by the physical presence to impose himself in the centre of the pitch.
His defensive work has improved notably in recent months, making him a credible option as a defensive midfielder. For a Madrid squad that lacks long-term depth in that specific role, he fits a clear need: a project player who could grow into a position that remains understocked.
There is a problem, though. Barcelona are currently ahead in the race.
A deal that is anything but simple
Madrid’s interest faces resistance on two fronts.
First, Barcelona. Their push for Martínez has put them in the lead, and Madrid know they are not negotiating from a position of comfort.
Second, Racing Santander themselves. The club recently renewed Martínez’s contract until 2029 and are using that leverage to the full. They are demanding his €3 million release clause be paid in full this summer and want a significant sell-on percentage on any future transfer.
For a club like Real Madrid, that combination changes the equation. A high sell-on clause eats into the upside of signing a young player who might never break into the first team. The risk-reward balance becomes far less attractive.
If Madrid do decide to move, another question looms: where would Martínez play? A direct jump into the first team looks unlikely given the congestion and status in midfield. A place in Castilla appears the more realistic route, at least initially, even if the long-term plan is clearly higher.
So Mourinho’s immediate reality is this: no new established midfielder is expected to walk through the door in the coming weeks. The squad he has now is, in essence, the one he must live and win with.
The World Cup stars are back. The friendlies are looming. Espanyol waits on 22 August. For José Mourinho and Real Madrid, the excuses have run out.
