Predicting Real Madrid’s XI under Jose Mourinho next season: No place for Trent or Vini Jr… | OneFootball

Jose Mourinho is the favoured candidate of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez this summer, according to The Athletic‘s David Ornstein.

After years of relative obscurity, Mourinho appears set for a sensational return to the biggest club in world football. Fireworks are guaranteed.

Here’s how we expect Real Madrid might line up next season if Mourinho’s sat in the dugout, arranged in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

GK: Thibaut Courtois

Mourinho’s No.1 in the last league title he won – the Premier League with Chelsea – over a decade ago.

The Belgian was still at Stamford Bridge, albeit mostly sidelined with a meniscus injury, when things derailed spectacularly in 2015-16. Mourinho was sacked, with the Blues near the relegation zone, in December 2015.

He also said he was “disappointed” by Mourinho’s claim that Vinicius Junior’s goal celebration led to him being allegedly racially abused by Gianluca Prestianni back in February’s Champions League clash.

There might be a little lingering awkwardness, then, but nothing that can’t be smoothed out. A no-brainer to stick with an experienced ‘keeper, arguably still the best in the world, who remains contracted until 2027.

RB: Dani Carvajal

As with Chelsea, when Mourinho departed Real Madrid, he left behind scorched earth, a dressing room fractured by mistrust and a lingering haze of bitterness that refused to dissipate.

But 13 years have passed and all the players from Mourinho’s first stint have since departed.

Apart from one. And long-serving academy graduate Carvajal, who is now the club captain, has gone on record criticising Mourinho in the past.

“I felt that I was perfectly ready to play for the first team, but hey, the coach, Mourinho in this case, did not count on me,” the right-back told Marca in 2016.

“Mourinho was a bit opportunistic. When I returned, he said that I needed the year elsewhere for my development.

“But had I not done well at Leverkusen, he would have said that I was not good enough for Madrid. I was a good player if I succeeded [at Leverkusen], but a bad one if I did not do well.”

Enough time has passed and Carvajal has probably gotten over not being trusted by Mourinho as a youngster. He’s won six(!) Champions Leagues and represented his boyhood club over 400 times.

Mourinho reconciled with Juan Mata at Manchester United – to great effect – after binning him off at Chelsea, and we could imagine a similar scenario here.

Carvajal is out of contract at the end of the season, but you’d expect him to stay. A defensively sound, proven winner is much more of Mourinho’s profile than the other guy, you’d imagine.

CB: Antonio Rudiger

The experienced Germany international’s current deal runs out at the end of the season. Like Carvjal, we expect him to extend.

A classic Mourinho centre-back if we ever saw one. John Terry. Ricardo Carvalho. Sergio Ramos. Pepe. He needs a mad dog sh*thouse who’ll put their body on the line, and Rudiger certainly fits that bill.

CB: Jacobo Ramon

Raul Asencio probably isn’t at the level. David Alaba can’t string a run of games together and will leave. Eder Militao’s persistent injury issues continue. Dean Huijsen has shown lots of promise, but he strikes us as more of a Guardiola defender than a Mourinho one.

Madrid have been tipped to exercise their cheap-as-chips buyback clause on lofty La Fabrica graduate Ramon, who has developed superbly under Cesc Fabregas at Como.

One to watch. Mourinho’s new Varane?

LB: Alvaro Carreras

The 23-year-old didn’t quite overlap with Mourinho at Manchester United. Nor at Benfica. But we could see them building a fruitful relationship at the Bernabeu.

Carreras was given a torrid time by Michael Olise in Los Blancos’ recent Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich, and subsequently dropped for the second leg, but we’re not writing him off just yet. Call it valuable experience.

DM: Rodri

Real Madrid love signing a Premier League superstar. They love signing a Ballon d’Or winner. Rodri is proven in La Liga, has opened the door to moving back, and Madrid are crying out for a midfielder who will give them control.

The Spain international is slowly but surely getting back to his best – the catalyst for Man City’s reinvigorated title charge.

This one ticks too many boxes. This is Florentino Perez’s next big-name signing. And one who would give Mourinho hope of Madrid seriously competing once again.

CM: Federico Valverde

Rodri has been superb of late, but after his ACL lay-off, he appears to have lost a yard of pace and can’t quite cover ground like he used to. Pep Guardiola has compensated for that by dropping the industrious, scuttling presence of Bernardo Silva back in midfield.

Silva is available on a free, and that thought has surely crossed Perez’s mind. But they’ve already got Valverde, whose incredible engine makes him the perfect counterbalance for Rodri at the base of a new-look midfield.

FWR: Arda Guler

While not strictly a right winger, Guler possesses the adaptability to do a job there. And Mourinho is a fan.

“If Arda Guler wants to come, why not?” Mourinho joked during his stint in Turkey.

“If he loves Fenerbahce, if he comes for free and if Real Madrid will pay 75% of his salary, we cannot say ‘No’.”

Looking elsewhere… Mohamed Salah on a free? Florentino loves a market opportunity.

CAM: Jude Bellingham

When Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid won the La Liga title with 100 points and 121 goals scored back in 2011-12, he had prime Mesut Ozil ripping apart defences. The German notched 17 assists that season, a record 11 for Cristiano Ronaldo.

You only have to look at Ozil’s decline, and the trajectory of James Rodriguez’s career, for evidence that classic, floaty No.10 doesn’t really have the time or space to exist in today’s high-intensity pressing game.

Bellingham is a completely different kind of player, but he might be the closest workable analogue in 2026. Stick him in front of a Rodri-Valverde pivot and Madrid would boast a well-balanced, powerful midfield featuring a dynamic operator who reliably delivers match-winning moments in the final third.

The England international has found it tough during Madrid’s recent struggles, but stick him in a functional set-up and he’ll thrive.

With 23 goals and 13 assists in his debut campaign, he was arguably Madrid’s best player as they claimed a historic La Liga & Champions League double that year.

FWL: Brahim Diaz

You’ll notice that Vinicius Junior’s name does not feature here.

That’s not (exclusively) down to the fallout from the Prestianni incident, although that’s unlikely to help matters.

Vinicius is approaching the final 12 months of his contract and we appear to be approaching an impasse with negotiations.

Meanwhile, Madrid have struggled to get the Brazilian working in tandem with Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe. Of the three, Vini’s departure would make the most sense from both a footballing and a financial perspective.

Angel Di Maria, Casemiro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil; Perez has been happy to cash in on star names if a suitably sizeable offer arrives. Vini might just be his next cash cow – are you there, Saudi Pro League?

Brahim Diaz, Franco Mastantuono and Rodrygo (expected back January 2027) are three in-house replacement solutions. None would provide anywhere near the same threat or penetration, but they would arguably offer more balance.

Given the incisive, attacking quality elsewhere, that might just be more important.

ST: Kylian Mbappe

Flashbacks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s time at the Bernabeu. The world-record signing didn’t win a thing in his first season at Madrid. He was scoring shedloads of goals, but left eating Barcelona’s dust.

It was only after the appointment of Mourinho that Ronaldo started to get the silverware to match his goal tally. He won the Copa del Rey. Then La Liga.

They made great strides in the Champions League, three successive semi-finals, a key step towards winning it four times in five years after Mourinho left.

Ronaldo notched 168 goals in 164 appearances under Mourinho. That’s the best goalscoring ratio of any coach he’s worked under.

If Mourinho still has the juice – and at this point, the jury’s out – you can imagine similarly stratospheric things for Mbappe.