Real Madrid have had a disastrous season riven by chaos - is bringing José Mourinho back really a sane solution?
Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing and expecting different results. By that logic, Real Madrid may be lurching from chaos into insanity by appointing José Mourinho as their head coach for a second time.
Reports suggest that Real are in the latter stages of negotiations to bring Mourinho back to the Santiago Bernabeu for another spell in charge, 13 years after he first left the club. His time in Madrid was characterised by toxicity – and deciding that he’s the man to beat a divided dressing room back into shape may be the strangest idea of Florentino Pérez’s presidency, a tenure which is itself rapidly descending into farce and furore.
Real Madrid are a club in chaos – is José Mourinho really the man to turn things around?
The notion of reappointing Mourinho, a manager who seemed to be on the wrong side of his peak, feel almost mundane amidst to the chaos which has engulfed Real Madrid. Their season has gone from bad to the absurd, with the title gone, the squad fighting amongst themselves and the president throwing the club’s future into doubt by calling snap elections.
The backdrop to Mourinho’s likely return is pandemonium: Xabi Alonso was sacked once it became clear that an ego-driven dressing room refused to respond to his tactics and coaching methods, and his interim replacement Álvaro Arbeloa struggled to get things back on track, with last weekend’s defeat to old rivals Barcelona putting the title out of reach. But what has happened off the pitch is far more bizarre.
Ahead of the Barcelona match, club captain Fede Valverde was hospitalised with a head injury following a physical altercation with team-mate Aurelién Tchouaméni. That itself came on the heels of a global fanbase lashing out at Kylian Mbappé, with millions signing an online petition demanding that he be sold in response to alleged attitudinal issues.
Now Pérez has called snap presidential elections even as he brokers a deal to bring Mourinho back, creating sudden chaos at boardroom level after a Trumpian press conference in which he raged against press allegations that he was unwell or unable to fulfil his responsibilities and made uncomfortable, sexist remarks about female reporters.
There is, in short, no level of the club which isn’t in a state of disarray, from boardroom to dressing room to the stands. Real Madrid don’t just need a new manager, they need someone who can calm frayed nerves and keep egos in check. What they seem to be getting is a manager whose CV suggests that he might be just about the worst person for the job.
This is the same head coach widely credited with creating the toxic atmosphere which hobbled Manchester United for years, who has fallen out with several high-profile players, and who still rages at referees, officials, and just about anybody else he perceives to be ‘against him.’ He is still tempestuous, still driven by internal rage, still just about the last man most clubs would turn to when they need to mend fences and heal wounds. It is difficult to imagine him heading into that Real Madrid dressing room without ensuing ructions.
Real are, presumably, betting on Mourinho the disciplinarian, the authoritarian coach who will cast aside any player who gets on his bad side. Perhaps his tough love approach might be what Real need – maybe knocking a few heads together, ideally less literally than was the case with Valverde and Tchouaméni, would represent the right approach. But the fail case could be catastrophic. Mourinho doesn’t tend to leave harmony in his wake. Besides which, it’s not entirely clear that he’s still all that brilliant of a manager.
Is Mourinho still good enough to manage Real Madrid?
There is no arguing with the size of Mourinho’s trophy cabinet – but it has been some time since he could last be described as a serial winner. Since leaving Old Trafford nearly a decade ago, he has added just one major title to his collection, a Europa Conference League win with AS Roma back in 2022.
Even his first stint at Real Madrid was relatively unsuccessful. Generally outmatched by Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona while he was coaching in Spain, he won just one league title and one Copa del Rey during his three seasons at the Bernabeu, a somewhat disappointing return given the club’s stature and expectations.
After that? EFL Cup and Europa League wins with Manchester United, then a blank drawn at Tottenham Hotspur, then sacked by AS Roma after results and performances collapsed, followed by a trophy-free season with Fenerbahçe and now another with Benfica. The world’s biggest sides turned away from him a long time ago.
Not only has he missed out on winners’ medals over the last 10 years, but results have been generally subpar and his conservative style of play has won few critics over. He can at least point to the fact that his Benfica side are set to go through the current season unbeaten – but they will be ‘Invincibles’ who fell well short of the title. With one match remaining in the Portuguese season, they are undefeated but also third having drawn 11 matches.
Mourinho is no longer at the cutting edge of management, no longer a truly potent tactical force, but is still a crank with a temper. In that context, his appointment by Real Madrid looks like an astonishing leap of faith.
There is little evidence that he still knows how to win trophies, that he will play attractive football, or that he is a sane choice of coach when a fractious dressing room needs to dealt with. He is a blunt instrument, set to be appointed by a president who could be on his way out, a ticking time bomb who could explode in the faces of people who didn’t even set the fuse. The prospects of his return being successful seem rather distant. Then again, Mourinho’s natural habitat is with his back against the wall and the odds stacked against him. Perhaps he’ll make it work one last time. It certainly won’t be boring.
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