José Mourinho Begins Second Era at Real Madrid with Calculated Start

The second José Mourinho era at Real Madrid began not with fireworks, but with a clipboard and a medical schedule.

At Valdebebas on Monday morning, 13 July 2026, the Portuguese coach officially opened pre-season, starting the day at Clínica Sanitas for routine medical examinations before stepping onto the training pitch for his first session at 17:00. After weeks of talk and speculation, Mourinho finally had a whistle in his hand again.

A Skeleton Squad, by Design

This was not the grand reunion many might associate with a coach of his profile. It was deliberately stripped back.

A World Cup summer has carved holes through the squad. Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Jr and Thibaut Courtois are among those still on international duty or recovering from it, their returns staggered over the coming weeks. The true heavyweight cast of this Real Madrid side will not assemble for some time.

In their place, the first day carried a different kind of symbolism. Eduardo Camavinga, Franco Mastantuono, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen were among those present, the first core group to work directly under Mourinho in his second spell. For them, this is not just a pre-season. It is an audition.

Numbers were bolstered by players from Castilla, a necessity given the calendar but also an early window into Mourinho’s habits. He will see more faces than usual in these opening days, more profiles, more possibilities. The picture is incomplete, but the outlines of his squad will be drawn here, in these quieter sessions, long before the stars drift back.

It is an unconventional start, yes, but also a timely reminder: this pre-season will be shaped as much by logistics as by tactics.

A Club Restless, a Mandate Clear

Mourinho returns to a club that has lived a short, restless cycle since his last era. Mundo Deportivo underline the instability: Xabi Alonso’s project lasted roughly a year; Álvaro Arbeloa’s promotion from youth-team duties brought only about six months of relative calm before the club moved on again.

The message from the boardroom to the new-old coach is not subtle. This squad has the names, the talent, the individual flashes. What it has not delivered with any consistency is silverware.

Mourinho has not been waiting for the first day of training to start his work. Since Florentino Pérez secured re-election as club president and confirmed his appointment, the Portuguese has been shaping the project from behind the scenes. Monday is not the beginning of his thinking. It is simply the moment theory collides with grass.

Reports ahead of pre-season, including those from Football España, have pointed to early movement around recruitment and the composition of his coaching staff. The direction of travel is already set. Now he has to match the plan to the players in front of him.

Doors Open, Questions Waiting

For now, there is no grand unveiling on the podium. Mundo Deportivo report that a formal press presentation for Mourinho has yet to be scheduled, with no confirmed date at the time of writing. The spotlight will have to wait; the work will not.

Transfer business sits in that familiar Madrid state: active, but unresolved. Both the entrance and exit doors remain open, even if the core of the squad is considered broadly settled. The club know what they want to keep, and roughly where they want to add. The nuance lies in who convinces Mourinho in these early weeks, and who does not.

The real judgements, the ones that matter, cannot be made on a quiet July afternoon without Bellingham, Mbappé, Vinícius Jr or Courtois in sight. They will come when the full international contingent is back on the training pitch, when the pre-season friendlies sharpen into competitive fixtures, when this second Mourinho era is measured not in plans but in results.

For now, it is simple. A familiar figure is back at Valdebebas, the stopwatch is running, and a restless club has handed him the keys again.

What he builds this time will define how long they stay in his hands.