José Mourinho's Vision: Arda Güler as the Next Özil at Real Madrid

José Mourinho has walked back into the Bernabéu with an old idea and a new protagonist.

He wants Real Madrid to run again. To strike in transition, to rip through teams with speed and precision the way his first Madrid side once did. And at the heart of that vision, according to reports in Spain, stands Arda Güler.

Mbappé as Ronaldo, Güler as Özil

The plan is familiar. Kylian Mbappé steps into the role Cristiano Ronaldo owned for years: the ruthless finisher at the end of the break, the man every counter-attack seems to find. Alongside him, in the shadows between the lines, Mourinho is said to see Güler as the natural heir to Mesut Özil.

Inside the club, that comparison is no longer just media hype. At 21, Güler is viewed as the ideal profile to take on the tasks Özil executed so brilliantly in white: receiving between the lines, threading vertical passes, and delivering that final, defence-splitting ball that turns a promising move into a goal.

Spanish outlets have been pairing their names since Güler’s €30 million move from Fenerbahce in the summer of 2023. The parallels are obvious. Both share Turkish roots. Both live on progressive passing and see angles others miss in tight spaces. Both have the knack of unpicking deep, compact blocks with one decisive touch.

Now the man who once built an entire attacking structure around Özil is back in charge.

Mourinho returns to his favourite blueprint

Mourinho knows exactly what a playmaker of this type can do in a transition-heavy system. During his first spell at Real Madrid, he squeezed every drop of creativity from Özil, turning him into one of Europe’s most devastating assist machines.

Güler arrives at a different stage of his career. Since landing in Madrid, he has shown he can adapt but has never quite nailed down a permanent starting role in this star-studded squad. Coaches have moved him across the right flank, into the right half-space, and even deeper in the build-up. Each role highlighted his tactical intelligence, yet none felt like a definitive home.

Mourinho wants to change that. Reports in Mundo Deportivo describe a clear idea: position Güler where his combination play and creativity hurt opponents most, and let him knit together the transitions that unleash Mbappé.

Whether the Portuguese coach has already laid out that blueprint behind closed doors is not confirmed. What is clear is that he is working intensively on the squad structure, searching for the right balance between the explosive and the subtle, the runners and the thinkers.

Güler sits firmly in the latter category.

A rare pre-season window

Timing helps this project. Turkey’s early exit from World Cup qualifying duty means Güler returns to Madrid without the physical and mental weight of a long international campaign. For Mourinho, that is gold.

He now gets something elite coaches rarely enjoy with a young creative talent at a superclub: uninterrupted time on the training ground. Weeks of sessions to drill movements, refine partnerships, and test whether Güler can truly inhabit that “Mesut Özil 2.0” role the Spanish press has already stamped on him.

Pre-season becomes more than fitness work. It turns into an audition.

For Güler, this is the chance he has been waiting for—to move from versatile squad piece to clearly defined reference point in the system. No more floating between positions. No more cameos in different zones. A role with responsibility, tailored to his strengths.

Mourinho will use these friendlies and training blocks to stress-test the idea: Can Güler consistently find Mbappé early in transition? Can he unlock low blocks when the counter is not on? Can he shoulder the creative burden in a team built to run and punish?

The midfielder has already shown flashes that he can. Now comes the real question: under Mourinho, in a Madrid side built once again for ruthless transition, does Arda Güler simply fit the model—or does he redefine it?