José Mourinho on Tchouameni and Valverde's Friendship
José Mourinho insists he has not had to play peacemaker between Aurélien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde, despite the storm that raged around the pair last season.
The Real Madrid midfielders clashed twice in May, incidents serious enough that one of them left Valverde in hospital with a head injury. For weeks, their relationship was held up as a symbol of a fractured dressing room.
Now, it looks like a different club.
From flashpoint to friendship
The summer break reset everything. Tchouameni signed a new contract. Valverde inherited the captain’s armband after Dani Carvajal’s departure. The hierarchy changed, and with it, the mood.
Ahead of Madrid’s meeting with Rayo Vallecano, Mourinho painted a picture of a squad that has repaired itself from within.
“Look, I haven't done anything. They've done everything themselves,” he said. “The empathy within the group today, the friendship, the way they work together, the frustration when they go off because nobody wants to be substituted, but still supporting their teammates, the player who comes on in the final minute… the group is fantastic.”
The evidence was there in Madrid’s recent Champions League win over Inter Milan. Tchouameni, back from World Cup duty and making his first appearance of the season, came off the bench late on to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold. At full-time, cameras caught him embracing Valverde. No tension. No distance. Just two key players sharing a win.
Mourinho admitted he had been ready to intervene when his internationals returned, braced for lingering resentment. Instead, he walked into a dressing room that had already moved on.
“If I knew nothing, if I walked into the dressing room without knowing anything about the situation, I'd think they were great friends,” he explained. “When they came back from the World Cup, I was obviously paying attention to see whether I needed to act as a peacekeeper, but I didn't have to do anything.”
Mourinho’s shield around Vinicius
With the midfield peace restored, attention turned to another storyline: Vinicius Jr and the scrutiny that never seems to leave him.
The Brazilian ended a summer of speculation by signing a long-term deal through 2032 last month, a contract that underlined his status as one of the pillars of Madrid’s future. His start to the season, though, has been subdued. One goal in five games across all competitions is modest by his standards, and the noise around him has grown louder.
Mourinho is having none of it.
“The best Vinicius is coming soon,” he insisted. “The one from last year, when the Bernabeu was terrified against Benfica and he ended up winning the tie. The Vinicius who won matches single-handedly hasn't arrived yet. But he will.”
He leaned on the numbers that matter to him. Not goals, not assists, but the raw physical and tactical output that suggests a player on the verge of exploding again.
“In an era of data and statistics, he's very close to his top speed,” Mourinho pointed out. “He's broken his records for high-intensity sprints, records for ball recoveries, for ball recoveries in the final third... He's coming.”
The former Chelsea and Manchester United manager bristled when the criticism from the Spanish media was raised. To him, the negativity is simply the tax on greatness. Vinicius is 26, already with three La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues and two FIFA Club World Cups to his name, along with a stack of other honours in white. That kind of résumé changes how every performance is judged.
Mourinho reached for a proverb from home to drive the point home.
“In Portugal there's a proverb, I don't know if it's the same in Spain, ‘you only throw stones at trees that bear fruit,’” he said. “What has Vini done here in recent years? How many Champions Leagues has he won? How many goals has he scored? He's a tree with plenty of fruit. And people throw stones because they want fruit.”
The message was clear. Inside Valdebebas, the fights that mattered have been settled, the captain and his teammate now pulling in the same direction. Outside, the stones keep flying at Vinicius. Mourinho sounds ready for that battle to last all season.
