José Mourinho says his first job at Real Madrid is to listen. He told Vanity Fair that he needs to “see with my own eyes” and “understand things” before judging the squad. He added that it is “not time to talk”, but time “to be very calm” and open a “very fluent and honest dialogue”. That is the right starting point, because the football problem already waiting for him is messy.
Mourinho also said the only thing he can say about Kylian Mbappé is that he is “a phenomenal player”, and he will try to help him be even better. That sounds simple, but it sits on top of a season in which Madrid failed to win a major trophy after Mbappé arrived ahead of the 2024–25 campaign. The Frenchman has scored 86 goals in his two seasons in a white shirt, so this is not about output. It is about how the team is built around him.
The Mbappé and Bellingham fit
The real tactical question is how Mourinho handles the Mbappé-Jude Bellingham relationship. Madrid’s previous season before Mbappé arrived brought La Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup, with the attack led by Vinícius Júnior. Since then, the shape has looked less settled, even if the individual quality has not disappeared.
Mbappé has 4 goals in 3 World Cup appearances, while Bellingham has 1 goal in 2. Those numbers do not settle the role debate, but they do show both players are productive enough to make the fit the issue, not the talent. Bellingham’s 7.05 World Cup rating is decent, though not yet the level of central control Madrid will want from him if Mourinho asks him to play even higher up the pitch.
Rodrygo will be out injured for the rest of the calendar year, which narrows the options further. If Mourinho does lean into a 4-2-3-1, as has been reported, the central band becomes the key area and the Bellingham question gets even sharper. He is not arriving to choose between stars. He is arriving to decide who gets to dominate the space behind Mbappé.
The season Mourinho inherits
The backdrop is not exactly tidy. Real Madrid’s 2025–26 season ended in chaos, with dressing-room feuds and a final Clásico defeat to Barcelona. They still finished second in La Liga on 86 points, which tells you the squad was competitive even while the campaign felt fractured.
That is where Mourinho’s approach matters. He is not selling a instant fix or a public clear-out. He is starting with the basics, asking questions before making judgments. The evidence around the squad says the deeper issue is not whether Real Madrid have enough attackers, but whether he can stop their best attackers from getting in each other’s way.
The first real test is not a speech. It is whether Mbappé and Bellingham can be shaped into a system that looks less crowded than the one Madrid have already tried.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →