Florentino Perez has made a lot of bold calls in his time at the Bernabeu. Signing Luis Figo. Letting Cristiano Ronaldo go. Bringing in Kylian Mbappe. But rehiring Jose Mourinho, 13 years after one of the most turbulent managerial exits in the club’s modern history, might be the most consequential gamble of them all.
The move is effectively done. Mourinho is on the verge of a sensational return to the Bernabeu, with the final details of his appointment expected to be resolved after Real Madrid’s last La Liga fixture on May 23, according to The Telegraph. The Portuguese coach has a €3 million release clause in his Benfica contract that Madrid can trigger within ten days of the Portuguese season ending. Simple enough. What comes next is anything but.
The Dressing Room Is Broken
It’s been a true annus horribilis at the Bernabeu, with the club spiralling into chaos amid reports of a toxic dressing room that only became more frequent as the season went on. Two managers came and went before the campaign was even over, and the club has dealt with as many issues off the pitch as they have on it.
Xabi Alonso’s short tenure ended in January after losing the Spanish Super Cup to Barcelona, amid reports of a dressing room split and players refusing to follow instructions. Alonso was replaced by Arbeloa, whose first game brought a disastrous Copa del Rey exit to second-tier Albacete.
The problems run deeper than results. Last week, captain Federico Valverde was hospitalised following a dressing room altercation with Aurelien Tchouameni that left him with a head injury. That wasn’t an isolated incident, but rather the ugly culmination of a season defined by ego clashes, factional splits, and players who seemed more interested in their own standing than the team’s.
Three managers in a row have struggled to create a functioning structure that incorporates Mbappe, Vinicius and Bellingham, particularly against elite opposition. Alonso tried to impose discipline and was undermined by his own players.
Some players pretended to fall asleep during tactical sessions, while others whispered among themselves while he was speaking, prompting the coach to eventually shout: “I did not know I was coming to a nursery school.” Arbeloa took a different approach, leaning on ego management and personal relationships. It worked briefly before the wheels fell off entirely.
Perez and his board appeared to regard sacking managers as easier than confronting the rebellious stars. That’s the culture Mourinho is being asked to fix.
The Case For the Return of the ‘Special One’
Here’s the thing. If there’s one manager in world football you’d back to walk into that dressing room and immediately command respect, it’s probably Mourinho.
He’s done it before at this exact club. In 2011-12, his Real Madrid side broke multiple La Liga records including most points in a season (100), most goals (121), and most wins (32). He turned a squad with its own volatile characters into a title-winning machine. The squad he inherits now is arguably more talented than that one.
He also knows exactly what he’s walking into. He’s seen as a proven winner who understands Madrid’s unique culture, and someone with the authority to demand accountability from players who have grown used to operating without any. BBC Sport report he’s currently the only candidate the club are in talks with, which tells you everything about how Perez sees this. He’s not hedging. He wants Mourinho and only Mourinho.
The talent in this squad, for all its dysfunction, still has the quality to win things if properly managed. The attacking partnership between Mbappe and Vinicius produced moments of real brilliance this season even as the club struggled to build a system around them. Bellingham and Valverde are rightly considered among the best midfielders in the world, and the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Rodrygo and Brahim Diaz all have the ability to be world-class on their day. The raw material is there for Mourinho to build an era-defining team.
The Case Against Mourinho’s Remontada
The concern isn’t whether Mourinho can impose authority. He can. The concern is what happens after he does.
His first spell ended badly. His final season proved a huge disappointment, with Barcelona finishing 15 points clear at the top and Madrid losing both the Copa del Rey final and the Champions League semi-final. Mourinho himself called it “the worst season of my career.” The dressing room was fractured by the time he left, with public fallouts, alleged player discontent, and a cloud that hung over the club for years.
Now he’s coming back to a dressing room that’s already fractured, with bigger egos and bigger wages than anything he previously encountered here. The combined entourages of Vinicius, Mbappe and their colleagues wield alarmingly high influence inside the club, according to The Athletic.
These aren’t players who’ll quietly accept being dropped or publicly criticised. Mourinho’s instinct when challenged is to double down, not compromise. At a club where player power has already destroyed two managers in a single season, that could get very ugly very quickly.
There’s also the broader question of whether his methods still translate. His last successful project was at Chelsea, a decade ago. His spells at Roma and Tottenham ended in acrimony. More recently, his Fenerbahce tenure was a disaster, while his time at Benfica has been respectable but unspectacular, and he is leaving without winning the title despite going unbeaten in the Liga Portugal.
Perez has bet on a familiar face because the alternatives felt riskier. Mourinho-era football tends to prioritise structure and resilience over the free-flowing attacking play Madrid’s supporters demand. If the defensive football comes in and the wins don’t follow immediately, the Bernabeu will turn fast.
The Verdict
This is a huge gamble by Perez. If Mourinho arrives and within six months the dressing room incidents stop, Mbappe and Vinicius are functioning as a partnership rather than rivals, and Madrid are genuine title challengers again, the long-serving Real Madrid President will look like a genius. It’s exactly the kind of bold, experienced appointment that a club in freefall needs.
But if the old fault lines re-emerge, if Mourinho’s relationship with a senior player breaks down publicly, if the football is grim and the results aren’t there to justify it, this won’t just be another failed managerial appointment.
Not only because Jose would likely be leaving a dressing room still in disarray, but also because we will see a return to the old Jose. To the press conferences designed to protect himself rather than the club, the defensive football, the slow decline, the singling out of individuals for criticism for having the audacity to be injured.
Perez backed him once and it ended in divorce. He’s backing him again despite knowing all of that. That’s either vision or desperation. Mourinho either remains a vintage “special one”, or has become “one of the bottle”. We’ll find out which one pretty quickly.
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