Real Madrid Preseason Under Mourinho: Six Players to Watch
The José Mourinho era at Real Madrid has begun not with fireworks, but with shuttle runs on a hot July morning at Valdebebas.
Preseason is underway, the World Cup barely in the rearview mirror, and the new coach is working with a skeleton squad. The stars who went deep into the tournament are still scattered across beaches and private resorts, but those spared international duty have already reported back, boots laced, under the watchful eye of a manager who does not do gentle introductions.
Mourinho has arrived with a revamped staff, featuring former Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira, and a blunt mandate: restore a winning mentality to a club that has gone two seasons without a major trophy. For some players, this summer is not just about fitness. It is about survival.
Here are six Madrid players for whom this preseason could define everything.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: On Trial at Right-Back
Trent Alexander-Arnold walked back into Valdebebas earlier than he would have liked.
Left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup, the right-back has had time to stew over the decision. Now he has time to answer it. He was among the first back for the hard running and double sessions, a stark contrast to the sun-drenched social feeds of team-mates still on holiday.
His first season in Madrid was fine. Not disastrous, not transformative. His passing and delivery remained elite, his defensive question marks just as persistent. In a team that faltered in key moments last season, he neither fixed the problems nor caused them, but the doubts around his defensive concentration have not gone away.
That is where the tension with Mourinho lies. The Portuguese coach has never hidden his intolerance for defenders who switch off or freelance out of structure. With Denzel Dumfries now in the building and offering a more traditional, defensively secure profile on the right, Alexander-Arnold is under immediate pressure.
This is not a bedding-in year. This is an audition. If he cannot convince Mourinho that his creativity outweighs the risk, he may find himself watching Dumfries from the bench when the real games start.
Dean Huijsen: A Window of Opportunity
Dean Huijsen could easily have spent July preparing for a World Cup final with Spain. Instead, he is chasing shadows in preseason drills.
Luis de la Fuente’s decision to leave him out of Spain’s final World Cup squad in favor of Atlético Madrid’s Marc Pubill was one of the more debated calls of the tournament. Huijsen had been important in qualifying, only to be squeezed out at the last moment.
Now his battle is a domestic one. Last season, he showed exactly why Madrid moved for him: composure on the ball, size, and the raw material of a top center-back. He also showed why he is still a project, with shaky spells in a backline that wobbled in decisive matches.
Mourinho, historically, does not build his defenses on potential. He builds them on scars and experience. The club has already moved aggressively, bringing in Ibrahima Konaté, Marc Cucurella and Dumfries, and at least one more defensive signing is expected.
Yet timing has given Huijsen a narrow but valuable opening. Konaté is still on World Cup duty, Éder Militão remains sidelined by injury, and the early preseason friendlies will need bodies at center-back. Those minutes are not charity. They are an exam.
If Huijsen looks commanding, he forces his name into Mourinho’s plans. If he looks nervous, the coach will not hesitate to shuffle him down the pecking order once the full squad returns.
Eduardo Camavinga: Between Exit Rumors and Reinvention
Eduardo Camavinga is back early, back working, and back under a cloud of uncertainty.
His omission from France’s World Cup squad was a surprise on the international stage. Inside Madrid, his trajectory has been more worrying. Once heralded as a cornerstone of the club’s future midfield, he has regressed over recent seasons, drifting between roles and never quite owning one.
There has been talk of a summer exit, with several Premier League clubs linked, but so far the market has not come calling with serious offers. The noise has faded, leaving Camavinga in a strange limbo: not clearly wanted out, not clearly central to the new project either.
He is understood to want to stay and fight. The question is where he fits in a Mourinho team. Double pivot? Rotational option? Emergency left-back, as in the past? With many of the established starters still on post-World Cup leave, Camavinga now finds himself with something he has lacked lately: a clear runway to impress a new manager.
If he can show discipline, clarity, and the aggression Mourinho demands in midfield, he might yet reframe his story in Madrid. If not, the next wave of signings and returning stars could push him to the margins.
Brahim Díaz: From World Cup Spark to Club Question
For Morocco, Brahim Díaz is a star. For Real Madrid, he is still a question.
The 26-year-old shone in spells during Morocco’s run to the World Cup quarterfinals, embracing the responsibility and freedom that comes with being a leading man for his country. He has never been given that same status at club level, where he remains more of a useful piece than a guaranteed starter.
This summer, that status is up for grabs. With Rodrygo Goes recovering from an ACL injury, there is a vacancy on the right wing in Mourinho’s preferred 4-2-3-1. Brahim has the technical quality and imagination to make that role his own. What he has not yet done is string together a sustained run of decisive performances in white.
He will not report back immediately, his World Cup ending only on July 9, and he has earned a short break. When he does walk through the doors at Valdebebas, though, he will find a manager who values work rate, tactical discipline, and end product above flashes of flair.
This preseason is his chance to prove he is more than an impact substitute. If he cannot convince Mourinho now, while Rodrygo is still on the mend, it will be hard to argue for greater trust once the squad is at full strength.
Arda Güler: Talent in Search of a Role
Arda Güler’s World Cup ended early with Türkiye’s group-stage exit. His real battle starts now.
For his country, the 21-year-old is already central, a creative hub and a symbol of what is to come. At Real Madrid, his status is far less defined. The arrival of Mourinho only deepens the questions.
Where does he play? Does he have the physicality and positional discipline to operate in a two-man midfield? Can he cope with the running demands of a wide role in a Mourinho system? The No.10 position, where his gifts shine brightest, appears locked down by Jude Bellingham.
On top of that, the signing of Bernardo Silva adds another obstacle. The Portuguese international is a quintessential Mourinho player: industrious, tactically sharp, and proven at the highest level. For Güler, it is another layer of competition in the spaces he wants to occupy.
One report from SPORT suggested Mourinho called Güler after Türkiye’s elimination to reassure him of his importance. The words matter, but the minutes will matter more. Expected back as early as next week, he has to show that his elegance on the ball can coexist with the intensity and defensive commitment the new coach demands.
If he pulls it off, he becomes a weapon. If not, he risks becoming a luxury piece in a squad built for grind.
Endrick: Hype, Doubt, and a Defining Summer
Endrick arrives at this preseason caught between two extremes: generational talent or internet punchline. There has been little middle ground.
His half-season at Lyon was impressive by any measure: 16 goal involvements in 24 matches, enough to earn him a place in Brazil’s World Cup squad. That should have been a springboard. Instead, Carlo Ancelotti largely overlooked him, a decision that sparked frustration and no small amount of schadenfreude back home.
Now, at 19, he returns to Madrid facing a different kind of scrutiny. Reports suggest he is not earmarked for another loan. That means he is staying to compete. But compete where? As a central striker? As a second forward? As an impact substitute?
Preseason will go a long way to answering those questions. Mourinho will want to see not just flashes of brilliance but maturity: movement without the ball, pressing discipline, the ability to link play rather than drift in and out of games.
If Endrick can win over a manager famously hard to impress, he could fast-track his way into the core of this new Madrid. If he cannot, the calls for another loan, another reset, will grow louder.
Valdebebas, then, is not just the backdrop to fitness drills and tactical whiteboards this summer. It is a stage, and Mourinho is already judging.
For Alexander-Arnold, Huijsen, Camavinga, Brahim, Güler and Endrick, these weeks are not warm-up acts. They are the first decisive chapter of their Real Madrid careers under a coach who rarely offers second chances.
