José Mourinho makes controversial call on Real Madrid’s vice captain for next season | OneFootball

Incoming Real Madrid head coach José Mourinho has made a head-turning call on the captaincy pecking order at the club for the upcoming campaign.

This comes amid the understanding that Vinícius Jr. has been chosen as Los Blancos’ stand-in skipper.

It recently came to light that the plan is for Federico Valverde to take up captaincy duties on a full-time basis in Spain’s capital over the weeks ahead.

As much comes with Dani Carvajal having departed as a free agent.

Beyond midfielder Valverde, though, the armband pecking order had until now remained largely unclear. The likes of Thibaut Courtois, Antonio Rüdiger and Jude Bellingham had been tipped to act as vice-captain at the Bernabéu for the 2026/27 campaign.

As alluded to above, though, the honour is in fact set to go elsewhere.

In a decision which is no doubt set to raise eyebrows across the Real Madrid fanbase, Diario AS report that Vinícius Jr. will be 2nd in command in the captaincy group moving forward.

This will be made known to the Brazilian during upcoming contract negotiations between the two parties.

Conor Laird – GSFN