Jose Mourinho to Real Madrid: "Struggling to see the logic" vs. "A good fit"

Ahead of a potential title-deciding couple of matches in La Liga, read what Sports Mole's Football Editor Matt Law has to say on the reports linking Jose Mourinho with a return to Real Madrid, and the overall performance level of Kylian Mbappe at Bernabeu.

Barcelona are currently 11 points clear of second-placed Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table, and the Catalan outfit would be confirmed as champions this weekend if they beat Osasuna on Saturday evening and Real Madrid fail to overcome Espanyol on Sunday night.

Matt Law, Football Editor: "The favourite of club president Florentino Perez"

He looks like he's the favourite of club president Florentino Perez. He's the one that is standing out at this moment, and I'm struggling to see the logic of it, if I'm honest.

I don't understand why you would go back to Mourinho, but then they tried it with Xabi Alonso, they tried to bring in a young manager, and in a system where Alonso didn't fit what they were trying to do. They had an outstanding young coach in Alonso, and [Alvaro] Arbeloa has done a steady enough job.

He (Arbeloa) looks like he'll go back down to the reserve side and continue his coaching journey, but the Mourinho, I can't really see the sense in it, if I'm honest. That said, there are people that know a lot more than me about Real Madrid that feel like he would be a good fit in the current model. Whether that works out obviously remains to be seen.

There's been a lot of talk about Mbappe, about how good he is and how good his numbers are, and there's no doubt about that, but has he made the team better? Probably not.

If you look at what's actually happened since he's been there in terms of no Champions League, they signed Mbappe to win the league and the Champions League, not the Super Cup, and obviously not even had a Copa del Rey in the time since he's been there. He has won trophies at Real Madrid, but not the big ones that they wanted to win.

There's been a lot of talk around the Mbappe issue, the Vinicius Junior relationship, do players side with Vinicius Junior or Mbappe? There's obviously issues with [Jude] Bellingham this season in terms of his attitude. The players just haven't gelled.