Should end chaos and titlelessness
©IMAGO
José Mourinho is returning to Real Madrid and starting his second term at Los Blancos. After Florentino Pérez won the presidential election for the Spanish record champions, he brought back the 63-year-old, who had already held the coaching position between 2010 and 2013. Due to the delay due to the election, signing Mourinho became significantly more expensive than necessary.
Mourinho’s employment costs Real Madrid 15 million euros. Previously there was talk of a sum of 6 million euros. However, The Athletic recently reported that the deadline for this tariff expired ten days after the end of the season in May. Previously it was only worth 3 million euros – a fifth of the current price. Benfica, where Mourinho was under contract until 2027, confirmed this to the stock exchange: “Should this scenario occur, the commitment will be made through the payment of 15 million euros, in accordance with the exit clause of the coach’s contract currently in force.” When he moved in 2010, Real had already paid 16 million euros to Inter Milan.
Mourinho first came to Los Blancos in the summer of 2010 after winning the treble with Inter Milan. In his three-year tenure he won the Spanish championship once and the cup once. He was unable to fulfill the club’s dream of a tenth Champions League title. In 178 games he collected an average of 2.3 points – only Carlo Ancelotti and Manuel Pellegrini were better (statistics). In the 2012/13 championship season, Real Madrid played the best season in Spain’s history under Mourinho: the team scored 100 points, scored 121 goals and only conceded 32 goals. Only FC Barcelona managed to break the 100-point mark a year later.
The past season for the Champions League record winners was chaotic on and off the pitch. Numerous players such as Federico Valverde, Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior made headlines off the field, Real remained without a title and the club lost its status as the world’s most valuable club. After the squad value fell from 1.34 billion to 1.22 billion euros, the Royals only occupy fourth place. In addition, two promising coaches, Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa, failed.
Real’s chaos and lack of titles should now be put to an end by Mourinho, who won only two trophies in the last ten seasons as manager of Manchester United, Tottenham, AS Roma, Fenerbahce and Benfica. In 2016/17 he won the Europa League with Man United and in 2021/22 he won the Conference League with AS Roma.