Jose Mourinho's Substitutes Bench: A Wealth of Quality
Jose Mourinho glanced down his substitutes’ bench against Rayo Vallecano and liked what he saw. Almost everyone was back, the injured aside. What he saw, as he put it, was “quality” everywhere he looked.
That luxury brings a different kind of problem: who actually plays?
To give Diomande his first start, Mourinho left Arda Guler among the substitutes, even after the Turk had lit up the pitch in just 23 minutes. The debate started immediately. Why not reward Guler? Why now for Diomande?
Mourinho did not flinch.
“Guler plays a lot when he is on the pitch,” he said. “But I am 100% certain that if Diomande had not started, the first question would have been: when will Diomande play?”
It was a sharp answer, and it came from a manager who knows exactly what he has in reserve. According to AS, Mourinho had 12 players waiting for their turn against Rayo, with a combined market value of 537 million euros, based on Transfermarkt figures. That is not a bench; that is a superclub in miniature.
Take Guler alone. Valued at 90 million euros, he already sits among the 25 most expensive footballers on the planet in terms of market value. One teenager, one price tag, and he is worth more than the entire Rayo Vallecano squad, listed at 86.85 million euros.
His valuation also eclipses five other La Liga teams outright: Malaga, Alaves, Elche, Osasuna and Levante. One substitute outpricing five full squads says plenty about the scale of Real Madrid’s resources.
And Guler was only one name on that bench.
Next to him, Aurelien Tchouameni, at 70 million euros. Then Huijsen, Arnold and Cucurella, each at 60 million. Behind them, Eduardo Camavinga at 50 million, Endrick at 40 million, Brahim Diaz at 35 million. Carlos Espi, Thiago Pitarch and Raul Asencio sit at 20 million apiece, with Andriy Lunin at 12 million euros.
Add it all up and those 12 substitutes are worth more than the full squads of all but 19 clubs in world football. In La Liga, only two entire teams surpass that 537 million-euro figure: Barcelona, valued at 1.2656 billion euros, and Atletico Madrid at 679.7 million. Villarreal, the league’s fourth most expensive squad, trail far behind at 331.6 million euros.
That is the context in which Mourinho is rotating, nudging and managing minutes.
Across the opening six league games, he has already used 19 players. With Diomande finally handed his first start, 17 different players have now appeared in the starting XI. Only two outfielders in his plans are still waiting for that first whistle: Tchouameni, easing back as he rebuilds fitness and rhythm after injury, and Carlos Espi.
Others are even further back in the queue. Lunin, Asencio and Endrick have yet to make a single appearance, with Asencio and Endrick both picking up injuries. Militao, Mendy and Rodrygo remain on the treatment table as well.
So Mourinho looks at his bench and sees quality. The numbers say he is right. The real question is how long he can keep all that value satisfied, sharp and ready before the season’s battles truly begin to bite.
