Jose Mourinho is Very Happy with Real Madrid Squad
Jose Mourinho insists he is “very happy” with his Real Madrid squad and considers it complete, even after watching top midfield target Rodri slip away to Barcelona.
The Portuguese coach has overseen a sweeping rebuild this summer, with six signings headlined by record arrival Yan Diomande and the high-profile captures of Bernardo Silva and Marc Cucurella. It is a bold refresh. It is also, according to Mourinho, enough.
“The squad is closed,” he told reporters on Tuesday. Then he left the door just slightly ajar. “But the market is still open – you never know if a player will come and say ‘I’ve been benched twice and I want to leave.’ In theory, no [more deals]… but something could always happen… In my head the squad is closed, and I have not asked for anyone. I am very happy with the players I have.”
Madrid’s failed pursuit of Rodri remains the one obvious gap in an otherwise aggressive window. Their attempt to lure the midfielder collapsed, and Barcelona pounced, leaving Silva as the only new face in the centre of the pitch.
For a club still learning to live without Toni Kroos and soon without Luka Modric, that is no small detail. Kroos bowed out in 2024, Modric is following in 2025, and Madrid have visibly struggled to control games with the same icy authority that defined their era.
The tension was there again at the weekend. Madrid needed a late winner to escape Espanyol with a 2-1 victory in their La Liga opener, Mourinho starting Silva alongside Federico Valverde in midfield. The result came, but the balance is clearly a work in progress.
Tchouameni held back
One man who will not be part of that puzzle against Real Sociedad on Wednesday is Aurelien Tchouameni. Mourinho confirmed the French defensive midfielder is not ready.
“He’s got a problem, the holiday time wasn’t enough [for him to recover], seeing the games approaching, the player wanted to try … but we’ve decided that you can’t start a season in suffering,” the coach explained.
“You can finish a season suffering, the last couple of months, but you can’t start in August not at 100 percent. So we decided with him, the staff, the medical department, to get him to return at 100 percent.”
It is a calculated move. Madrid lose a natural shield in front of the defence for a key early test, but Mourinho is clearly thinking about the long haul rather than squeezing minutes out of a half-fit anchor.
Valverde at the heart of it
In Tchouameni’s absence, the spotlight sharpens on Valverde. The Uruguayan has been shuffled across the pitch by previous coaches – right-back, right wing, hybrid roles – but Mourinho’s view is blunt.
“For me he is a player for the centre of the pitch,” he said. “Depending on the opponent and our objectives, he might be more set in his position or more mobile.”
That flexibility, in Mourinho’s mind, runs through the entire midfield. The old labels no longer interest him.
“I don’t want to identify Tchouameni as the No. 6, Camavinga No. 6, Fede No. 8, Bernardo No. 10 … things dilute during games.”
It is a modernist stance from a manager often cast as a traditionalist: fewer fixed roles, more fluid responsibility, the shape shifting as the match breathes.
So Madrid move into the new season with Rodri in Barcelona colours, Kroos already gone, Modric on the way out, and a coach adamant that his tools are enough. The squad, in his head, is closed. The question is whether that midfield, as it is, can carry Real Madrid through a year that will define what comes after the Kroos–Modric age.
