Jose Mourinho makes request for Real Madrid to sign Arsenal star | OneFootball

Real Madrid are expected to appoint Jose Mourinho next week after the club elections on Sunday, with Florentino Perez the favourite to earn a fresh mandate. The Portuguese has reportedly already signed his new deal with Los Blancos, such is the confidence that Perez will defeat rival Enrique Riquelme, although it would be a surprise if there was no get-out clause.

Mourinho’s plans to strengthen the backline are already being carried out by Real Madrid though. On Tuesday, Real Madrid reportedly reached an agreement with Ibrahima Konate to arrive on a free transfer from Liverpool. There is also an agreement on personal terms with Denzel Dumfries, and once Perez is re-elected, the plan is to activate his €20m release clause at Inter. That would be two of the six requests that Mourinho made, desiring two midfielders, two centre-backs, a right-back and a left-back.

Mourinho requests Riccardo Calafiori signing

As per Ramon Alvarez de Mon, Mourinho has also requested that Real Madrid look into the possibility of signing Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori. The Portuguese manager is a fan of his versatility, and Calafiori could potentially cover two of his requests, being able to play at both centre-back and left-back.

Calafiori’s season at Arsenal

Image via Eurosport.

Calafiori suffered from injuries at times this season, but was largely used as a left-back under Mikel Arteta, a position that Los Blancos have not had stability at for some time. Originally arriving from Bologna for €43.7m two seasons ago, Calafiori has battled with Piero Hincapie for the left-back spot for much of the year, with Myles Lewis-Skelly also in the fold. In total, Calafiori made 36 appearances, scoring once and giving three assists. Of those appearances, 28 were starts. Ferland Mendy has been beset by injury problems for the past two years, while Alvaro Carreras arrived for €50m last summer at Real Madrid, but struggled at times as the season went on. Fran Garcia is not trusted as the starting left-back at the Santiago Bernabeu.