Former Chelsea and Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho will return to his former club, Real Madrid, after Florentino Perez’s re-election as Los Blancos president for an eighth term.
Perez confirmed in his re-election speech that the Portuguese managerial legend would return to the Spanish capital as Los Blancos head coach
Worse kept secret
Mourinho’s return to the Spanish giants is not a surprise, as his move back to Madrid was all but complete before Perez’s return to the club presidency, as the move was one of the worst-kept secrets in the European game.
Mourinho is set to sign a three-year deal with Los Blancos, with his current club, Benfica, in line for a reported £13m in compensation for the 63-year-old.
If that fee is correct, it would be one of the highest-ever compensation payouts for a head coach in the history of the beautiful game.
Mourinho relatively successful in his first spell in Madrid
The former Chelsea boss was in charge of Real Madrid from 2010 to 2013, winning La Liga and the Copa del Rey during his tenure. It was Mourinho who helped break the stranglehold of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in La Liga by guiding his team to the Spanish title in the 2011/12 season.
While he was a success in Madrid, his managerial record has been patchy. He won the Premier League with Chelsea in 2015, but has struggled to take his teams to silverware in recent years.
In the 2025/26 season, his Benfica team were invincible in the Primeira Liga. However, they finished third-place in the Portuguese top-flight table, eight points adrift of the winners FC Porto.
His biggest achievements in the last decade were guiding Manchester United to the Europa League and the FA Cup triumphs in the 2016/17 season, and winning the Europa Conference League with Roma in the 2021/22 season.
Real Madrid are in need of inspiration after seeing their arch-rivals Barcelona claim back-to-back La Liga titles.
Mourinho’s first arrival at the Spanish giants managed to galvanise the whole club. Florentino Perez and everybody of a Real Madrid persuasion will be hoping for a similar effect, the second time around, from the Portuguese.