Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid: New Faces and Old Expectations
Jose Mourinho finally gets his Real Madrid back.
After a month of makeshift line-ups, academy promotions and skeleton sessions at Valdebebas, the World Cup hangover is about to clear. The last five internationals are due through the doors on Monday. For the first time since he walked back into the club, Mourinho can look around the training pitch and see something that resembles his real team.
World champions, new faces, old expectations
Marc Cucurella, Kylian Mbappé, Aurélien Tchouameni, Ibrahima Konaté and Jude Bellingham will all report for duty as Madrid enter the fifth week of pre-season. Medical tests first, then straight into work.
For two of them, it is a genuine first day.
Cucurella arrives as a freshly crowned world champion with Spain and one of the headline signings of Madrid’s summer. His energy and edge on the left flank give Mourinho a different kind of weapon, and his first proper session in white will be watched closely.
Konaté, signed earlier in the window, now steps into the reality of Mourinho’s world: defensive drills, tactical rigidity, and the demand to dominate his box. This is when his integration into the back line really begins, not in presentation photos but in double sessions under the sun.
Mbappé and Bellingham, already the faces of the project, return with a different task: to set the standard. Tchouameni, too, comes back to a midfield that still feels one player short of complete, but very much his to command.
Behind the group, racing the clock
All five are late to the party in pre-season terms. Extended holidays after deep World Cup runs have cost them rhythm and sharpness. Mourinho’s dilemma is obvious: he needs them ready, but he cannot afford to break them.
There is no luxury of time. La Liga starts on 22 August away to Espanyol. That gives him just under two weeks to bring the final arrivals up to speed and knit them into the patterns he has tried to build with a reduced squad.
Two friendlies will have to do the heavy lifting.
Madrid meet Deportivo La Coruña in the Teresa Herrera Trophy on 12 August, then head to Germany to face Schalke 04 on 16 August. Those games are no longer just commercial stops on a summer tour; they are live auditions and conditioning tools for Mbappé, Bellingham, Cucurella, Konaté and Tchouameni.
Every minute matters now.
Mourinho’s second Madrid, finally on the pitch
Up to this point, pre-season has been more laboratory than launchpad. Mourinho has leaned on whoever was available, sprinkled in academy talent like Alexis Ciria, and tried to sketch out ideas without his core stars.
Now the real work begins.
This is the phase when he can start building something close to his genuine first-choice XI, testing combinations that might actually walk out in a league opener rather than a July friendly. Shapes, pressing triggers, partnerships: they all become more meaningful when Mbappé runs in behind, Bellingham ghosts into the box, and Tchouameni screens the back four.
The backdrop is unforgiving. For all his history and aura, Mourinho’s recent years on the touchline have not matched his peak. At Real Madrid, that context does not buy him patience. The mood in the stands and the boardroom can swing from nostalgic warmth to cold calculation in a handful of games.
He knows he has to hit the ground running. There is no soft launch in this job.
A midfield left wanting – and a different market play
The squad around him is strong, but not complete in every area. Madrid’s midfield rebuild has stalled short of its ideal version.
Rodri said no. Bernardo Silva is the one significant reinforcement in that department. Beyond him, the club do not see a midfielder on the current market worth the price, the drama or the disruption. The stance is clear: no panic buys, no chasing names for the sake of it.
Mourinho publicly backs that line. He insists he has full faith in what he has, that he does not need more signings to compete. Whether that conviction holds when the fixtures pile up and the legs tire is a different question, but for now the message is unity and trust.
Behind the scenes, though, the recruitment work has not stopped. The focus has simply shifted in age and profile.
Eyes on Sergio Martinez – and a tug of war
Madrid’s scouts have turned their gaze to the future and, in particular, to Racing Santander. Teenage midfielder Sergio Martinez has caught their attention.
He is described as a high-quality talent: technically clean, with tight ball control and sharp tactical understanding. Physically, he already carries the frame and presence to impose himself in midfield, and recent steps in his defensive game make him a genuine option as a holding player.
On paper, he fits exactly what Madrid lack in the long term – a young, defensively solid midfielder who can grow into the role rather than arrive as a ready-made superstar.
There is a problem, though. Barcelona are in front.
As it stands, Barça lead the race for Martinez and sit ahead of the men in white in the teenager’s thinking and in the negotiations. For Madrid, that turns a smart, low-cost future play into a battle they cannot assume they will win.
Racing Santander dig in
Even if they overtake Barcelona, there is still Racing Santander to move. The club have done their homework: they renewed Martinez’s contract until 2029 and are in no mood to sell cheap.
They point to his release clause – €3 million – and want it paid in full this summer. On top of that, they are pushing for a sizeable sell-on clause, a demand that complicates the deal for Madrid. The more they give away in future percentage, the less sense the transfer makes if Martinez never quite makes the leap to the Bernabéu first team.
If Madrid do pull it off, the pathway is clear. He would almost certainly start with Castilla rather than Mourinho’s senior squad, simply because there is no room upstairs right now. The first team door is crowded; the B team is the realistic entry point.
That is the long game, though.
The short game starts on Monday at Valdebebas, when Mourinho walks out to training and, at last, sees his stars lined up in front of him. World champions, marquee signings, returning leaders – all finally in the same place.
Two weeks, two friendlies, one of the most demanding clubs in the world waiting. What kind of Real Madrid will he build this time?
