Brahim Diaz returned from the World Cup with four assists in five matches, and he finished as the tournament’s second-highest assist provider. He has not just come back fit, either, because his first available friendly for Real Madrid saw him start on the right wing against Ferencvaros in Hungary.
Brahim Diaz's World Cup output
Four assists in five games is the headline number, but the volume matters too. Brahim played 470 minutes at the World Cup, so this was not a short burst from a substitute running hot. His 6.94 average rating across the tournament sits alongside that output, and it is the sort of return that gives Jose Mourinho a proper reason to keep him in the conversation.
The club report on him is just as positive. It says Mourinho sees Brahim as a particularly valuable member of the squad, and that his versatility and willingness to work fit the manager’s ideas extremely well. That lines up with the way Madrid used him immediately after the tournament, starting him on the right wing first, then giving him another start against Deportivo La Coruna four days later.
Brahim can play on either wing, or as an attacking midfielder, and that flexibility is the route into more minutes. Last season he played 42 matches and accumulated 1,666 minutes, so Madrid already know he can handle a real workload. The question is not whether he has done enough to get noticed. He has. The question is how often Mourinho can fit him in with other attackers competing for the same spaces.
Mourinho's selection decision
Brahim’s last 10 matches carry an average rating of 7.05, which supports the idea that this is not just a one-tournament spike. The World Cup numbers, the right-wing start against Ferencvaros and the immediate follow-up against Deportivo all point in the same direction: he has made a strong case for a prominent role.
What follows now is selection, not entitlement. Real Madrid have seen enough to keep him in the frame, and Mourinho has already used him in two early starts after the tournament. The next test comes in how that role is shared once the season settles.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
