Mourinho Addresses Tchouameni-Valverde Feud and Vinicius's Form
José Mourinho insists he has not had to play peacemaker between Aurélien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde, despite the storm that raged around the pair last season.
The Real Madrid midfielders were involved in two flashpoints in May, one of which left Valverde in hospital with a head injury. Their feud dominated headlines and raised questions about whether the dressing room could hold together.
Now, Mourinho says, that storyline is over.
From flashpoint to friendship
The summer changed everything. Tchouameni signed a new contract. Valverde took the armband after Dani Carvajal’s departure. The hierarchy shifted, and with it, the mood.
Speaking before Madrid’s clash with Rayo Vallecano, Mourinho could hardly have sounded more relaxed about a relationship that once looked combustible.
“Look, I haven't done anything. They've done everything themselves,” he said. “The empathy within the group today, the friendship, the way they work together, the frustration when they go off because nobody wants to be substituted, but still supporting their teammates, the player who comes on in the final minute… the group is fantastic.”
The truce was not just internal. It was on show.
During Madrid’s recent Champions League win over Inter Milan, Tchouameni made his first appearance of the season after returning from World Cup duty. He came on late, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold, and when the final whistle went he headed straight for Valverde. The two embraced. No theatrics. Just a simple, public confirmation that the tension had gone.
Mourinho admitted he had braced himself for the opposite.
“If I knew nothing, if I walked into the dressing room without knowing anything about the situation, I'd think they were great friends,” he said. “When they came back from the World Cup, I was obviously paying attention to see whether I needed to act as a peacekeeper, but I didn't have to do anything.”
The coach, who has built a career managing egos as much as tactics, found a squad that had already done the hard work for him.
Mourinho’s shield around Vinicius
With the midfield calm restored, Mourinho turned his attention to another talking point: Vinicius Jr.
The Brazilian ended a summer of speculation by signing a long-term deal through 2032 last month. Since then, his form has been subdued by his own standards – just one goal in five games across all competitions.
The numbers have invited scrutiny. Mourinho is having none of it.
“The best Vinicius is coming soon,” he insisted. “The one from last year, when the Bernabeu was terrified against Benfica and he ended up winning the tie. The Vinicius who won matches single-handedly hasn't arrived yet. But he will.”
In a football world obsessed with spreadsheets and dashboards, Mourinho leaned on the data to defend his forward.
“In an era of data and statistics, he's very close to his top speed. He's broken his records for high-intensity sprints, records for ball recoveries, for ball recoveries in the final third... He's coming.”
The former Chelsea and Manchester United manager bristled at the criticism aimed at the 26-year-old from sections of the Spanish media. For Mourinho, the noise simply reflects Vinicius’s status at Real Madrid – a player who has already collected three La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues and two FIFA Club World Cups among a stack of honours.
To drive the point home, he reached for a line from home.
“In Portugal there's a proverb, I don't know if it's the same in Spain, ‘you only throw stones at trees that bear fruit,’” he said. “What has Vini done here in recent years? How many Champions Leagues has he won? How many goals has he scored? He's a tree with plenty of fruit. And people throw stones because they want fruit.”
Mourinho walks into a dressing room that once felt like a fault line and now looks united, with his captain and his renewed midfielder embracing, and his most electric forward defended with a proverb. The fractures have healed. The question now is whether that harmony turns into trophies.
