Real Madrid guide: big bet on Mourinho and a reshaped squad to return to the top after two trophyless years

Heavy investment reshapes the squad's profile, while the Portuguese manager takes on the task of restoring a winning identity

Real Madrid begin the 2026-27 season with a combination that rarely goes unnoticed at the Santiago Bernabeu: a squad that has been significantly reshaped, heavy investment in the market, and the return of Jose Mourinho as manager.

After two seasons without a trophy, the club decided to respond on multiple fronts. Florentino Perez's answer was clear: strengthen the squad and hand the project to a manager known for a strong personality, high standards and a track record of success.

Real Madrid's window has, so far, shown an attempt to fix problems in almost every area of the squad. Between experienced names, young prospects and players capable of offering more tactical options, Real Madrid have put together a squad that begins the season with few obvious gaps.

Rather than simply adding numbers, the club sought to change the profile of certain positions.

Bernardo Silva arrived on a free transfer after leaving Manchester City and signed until 2028, while Konate was also signed "for free" after his contract with Liverpool expired. Cucurella and Dumfries arrived to strengthen the full-back areas, and Diomande represents the boldest investment of the new project.

A heavy window for a Real Madrid side that needed to respond

Real Madrid do not begin the new season simply looking to improve a team that had lost some of its edge. This feels more like a rebuild.

The club has gone from an extraordinary 2024, capped by the Champions League title, to two consecutive seasons without lifting a trophy. That drop in form made a more far-reaching response inevitable, and it showed both in the choice of manager and in the transfer market.

The signing of Yan Diomande, the most expensive in Real Madrid's history, symbolises that shift in approach. The 19-year-old Ivorian forward arrives after standing out for RB Leipzig and gaining even more exposure at the World Cup.

He is a player capable of operating on either side of the attack, aggressive in one-on-one situations and with clear room to develop further. The scale of the investment suggests Real Madrid do not see him purely as a bet on the future, but as a player who needs to start justifying the size of the deal from early on.

In midfield, Bernardo Silva represents an even clearer change in profile. At 32, the Portuguese midfielder arrives with experience gained in one of the most demanding environments in European football, the Premier League, and the ability to operate in different areas of the pitch.

He offers control, ball circulation and intelligence between the lines, and the fact he arrived without a transfer fee makes the deal even more attractive financially.

Konate follows a similar logic in defence. The Frenchman adds physical strength, pace to defend in open spaces and top-level experience.

For a team looking to compete to the very end in LaLiga and the Champions League, having a centre-back of that profile alongside the existing options considerably increases the squad's margin for error.

Departures also helped create space. Alaba, Carvajal and Ceballos ended their spells at the club as their contracts expired, while some younger players were sold or sent out on loan.

Mastantuono, for example, will get the chance to play regularly at Fiorentina before returning to Madrid in 2027 with more minutes and responsibility under his belt. The loan was confirmed for 2026-27, with no option to buy, keeping the player tied to the Real Madrid project.

The result is a more balanced squad. There is youth and experience, pace and control, physical strength and players capable of making the difference in tight spaces.

Turning that variety into a functioning collective unit is still a task ahead, but on paper, Mourinho has been handed enough solutions to imagine different versions of Real Madrid throughout the season.

Mourinho returns: the man to put Real Madrid back on top?

The appointment of Jose Mourinho is, naturally, the most intriguing part of the "new Real Madrid". Thirteen years after leaving the club, the Portuguese returns to the Bernabeu for a second chapter that comes in a completely different context.

Florentino Perez had confirmed his intention to hire him during his presidential campaign and, just days after being re-elected, officially appointed the manager on a three-year deal, running until June 2029.

The relationship between the two men helps explain why the move gathered momentum again. Mourinho always retained Florentino's respect, even after a first spell that fell short of the huge expectations that had surrounded his arrival.

Between 2010 and 2013, the Portuguese won three trophies with Real Madrid, including a LaLiga title marked by a record points tally, but was unable to deliver the long-awaited Champions League. Even so, he left an important mark on the club and preserved the respect of both the fans and the president.

His return now comes after an eventful journey. Mourinho has worked in different environments, encountered different club structures and gained experience at sides such as Benfica, Roma and Fenerbahce before returning to Spanish football.

The challenge now beginning in the Spanish capital is on a completely different scale: leading a squad packed with stars and restoring the Madrid giants to contention for the biggest trophies.

Knowledge will not be the issue. Mourinho knows the pressure of working at the Bernabeu, knows the demand for immediate results, and understands what it means to manage a team where almost every player arrives with elevated status.

The key question will be different: how to make that knowledge work with a different generation from the one he found back in 2010.

Managing Real Madrid's dressing room of superstars

Managing the dressing room may well be his biggest task. Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Bellingham and company form a group of enormous individual weight. Mourinho has always had a strong personality and does not tend to compromise his convictions to preserve internal hierarchies.

That trait could be an advantage in an environment that needs to rediscover its competitive edge, but it will also be one of the biggest tests of his second spell.

On the other hand, there is a clear reason Florentino chose Mourinho specifically. The Portuguese knows how to work under pressure and has more than enough on his CV that he no longer needs to prove he understands how to win.

His trophies across different countries and his experience in decisive matches make him a manager well accustomed to turning star-studded squads into competitive teams.

The 2026-27 season, then, will be the first major test of a project that combines an aggressive transfer window with a manager who represents, in himself, a change of identity. The squad appears to have answers to a variety of problems; Mourinho will need to find the right combination.

If he can do that without allowing the personalities of his leading players to override the collective effort, Real Madrid will be in a position to compete for the top honours in Spain and Europe once again.

If not, the Portuguese's return could end up being remembered more for the scale of Florentino's gamble than for what it actually delivered.