José Mourinho Begins Second Madrid Chapter at Valdebebas

José Mourinho is back at Real Madrid. Not in a press room, not with a grand unveiling, but in the most Mourinho way possible: behind closed doors, early, and already working.

On Monday morning, 13 July 2026, the Portuguese coach officially began his second spell in charge of the club, opening pre-season at Valdebebas with medicals at the Clínica Sanitas facility before taking his first training session at 17:00.

No fanfare. No fireworks. Just a stripped-back squad, a stopwatch, and a manager who knows exactly how loud Madrid can get once the real games start.

A Skeleton Squad for Day One

This first session is deliberately light on star power. The World Cup has scattered much of Madrid’s elite across the globe, and those with tournament commitments are absent on day one. Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Jr, Thibaut Courtois and others will return on a staggered schedule.

So Mourinho’s first on‑pitch look at his new team comes with a very different cast.

• Eduardo Camavinga is there, a key pillar of the present and future.
• Franco Mastantuono, one of the brightest young names in the squad.
• Trent Alexander-Arnold, a headline arrival with the ball at his feet and a point to prove in a new environment, steps straight into Mourinho’s orbit.
• Dean Huijsen joins them, another young defender trying to carve out a place in a dressing room where standards are unforgiving.

To make up the numbers, Mourinho will lean on Castilla players. It gives the opening days of pre-season the feel of a trial camp: academy hopefuls and fringe players running drills under the gaze of a coach who has built a career on swift, ruthless judgments.

This is not the full Real Madrid. It is a sketch, an outline. The complete picture will take weeks to form.

Turbulent Backdrop, Familiar Demands

The context is as demanding as ever. Mundo Deportivo underline that Mourinho walks into a club that has lived through an unsettled spell on the bench.

Xabi Alonso’s project lasted roughly a year. Álvaro Arbeloa, promoted from youth-team duties, brought only about six months of relative calm before the club moved on again. Two ideas, two identities, both short-lived.

The message from the boardroom now is simple and unforgiving: stability and trophies. This is a squad rich in individual quality that has not translated its potential into regular silverware. That gap is where Mourinho is expected to live.

He has not waited for day one to start acting. Since Florentino Pérez secured re-election as club president and confirmed Mourinho’s return, the Portuguese has been shaping the project from a distance. Monday is merely the point where planning turns into running, passing, pressing.

Reports from Football España point to early recruitment moves and adjustments to his coaching staff, subtle but telling signs of the direction he wants to take. The work has already started; the players are only just catching up.

A Quiet Start, a Wide-Open Market

For now, there is no grand stage. Mundo Deportivo note that a formal press presentation for Mourinho has not yet been scheduled, with no date confirmed. No introductory monologue, no first public clash of ideas. Just cones, bibs, and the low hum of pre-season at Valdebebas.

The transfer picture mirrors that sense of controlled uncertainty. Both the entry and exit doors remain open. Names can still come in, careers can still be pushed out. Yet the spine of the squad is considered broadly settled. This is not a revolution, at least not in personnel. It is a reset of mentality and method.

The real judgments will not be made on a July afternoon with half a squad and a few Castilla call-ups. They will arrive when Bellingham drops into midfield, when Mbappé and Vinícius Jr share a front line under Mourinho’s command, when Courtois stands behind a defence drilled in his image.

For now, the story is simple: José Mourinho is back on the grass at Real Madrid, starting again from the beginning. The question is not whether the noise will come. It’s how long this version of Madrid will let him shape it before the volume reaches its familiar peak.