Not many would have had Jose Mourinho’s dramatic return to Real Madrid on their bingo cards at the start of the year.

But following a frustrating season in which the Spanish giants have given two of their former players a chance on the touchline, club president Florentino Perez has landed on an iconic — but divisive — ex-manager to help tidy up the mess.

As he always does, Mourinho lands back in Madrid — 13 years after his previous spell came to an unceremonious end — with many observers split over his return.

For some, the Portuguese 63-year-old is an outdated tactician whose unfiltered approach to man-management creates more problems than it solves. Others, including Perez, believe that Mourinho will bring experience and oversee a cultural reset built on discipline and defensive solidity, one that Madrid’s star-studded side desperately need.

Either way, Mourinho will be keen to use the summer as an opportunity to rebuild the squad, with a number of weak spots in mind.

Across defence, a replacement will be required for the outgoing captain Dani Carvajal, with Trent Alexander-Arnold only able to muster around 39 per cent of possible minutes this season due to persistent injuries.

Eder Militao and Antonio Rudiger have had similarly unreliable fitness records at centre-back, leaving 21-year-old Dean Huijsen short of consistent support throughout his debut season at the Bernabeu.

In midfield, there are concerns that Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga struggle to dictate the rhythm of games in which Madrid dominate possession, made all the more stark by the recent departures of generational tempo-controllers Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

And up front, the preference of each of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo to play off the left leaves the team lopsided in attack — with Mbappe and Vinicius Jr particularly notable for their poor defensive awareness, which often leaves the midfield and defence horribly exposed.

Here, The Athletic looks at the kind of players Mourinho might target and why.

Despite the clear issues, Mourinho will have plenty to work with when he arrives in the Spanish capital.

In Mbappe, he can rely on one of the world’s most clinical forwards to finish off the kind of swift, pitch-sweeping moves we became accustomed to during his last spell at Madrid, while Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde are all-rounders who can be moulded into the committed, front-footed midfielders his system needs.

More urgently, the Portuguese will look to fix Madrid’s confused out-of-possession approach, a passive 4-4-2 that was once again exposed by Barcelona earlier this month — in the 2-0 Clasico defeat that wrapped up the Catalans’ La Liga title defence.

As shown below, we can see how much space Alvaro Arbeloa’s side afforded the dangerous Pedri in midfield at the Camp Nou, and how moments of hesitation allowed Barcelona to flood the spaces between the lines.

Both Tchouameni and Alexander-Arnold are pointing at free players up ahead, but neither have the tactical licence or the defensive confidence to push on. The first line of pressure is broken too easily and Madrid retreat, allowing Pedri to drive forward with the ball and create a chance for Marcus Rashford out wide.

Mourinho will implement firmer instructions, requiring his players to be more authoritative and aggressive in their press. He did not shy away from a man-to-man approach at Benfica, where, despite finishing third, his side ended the season unbeaten and conceded just 25 goals in 34 games.

If Tchouameni were to jump forward in the example above, Mourinho would require a proactive centre-back to follow in behind him, a player who is comfortable tracking runners into midfield.

Given their lack of depth in that position, and the pressure Madrid face to dominate possession against lower-ranked teams, it would also be a bonus if that athletic centre-back were left-footed — and incisive with their passing out from the back.

Borussia Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck fits the bill. A vastly experienced ball-playing centre-back with more than 175 Bundesliga appearances and 39 Champions League games under his belt, he is renowned for his progressive ability on the ball. No centre-back in Europe’s top five leagues has completed more long passes this season — while he loves to fizz sharp, disguised passes into midfield.

As we can see from his player role dashboard below, the 26-year-old Schlotterbeck drives his team up the pitch and defends high. He has recently signed a new contract at Dortmund, but Madrid could do worse than test the waters.

Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni is listed as a stylistic match, although Barcelona have previously considered the 27-year-old as a defensive reinforcement. Like Schlotterbeck, he is happy to step into midfield to chase runners up the pitch, while few left-footed centre-backs can match his quality on the ball, delivering more crosses and creating more chances than any player in his position in Europe’s top five leagues this past season.

A potentially cheaper alternative might have been Marcos Senesi, the defender with the most passes into the final third across Europe last term. He has experience playing in an aggressive, man-to-man system under Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth. But on Friday The Athletic reported that the Argentinian is set to sign for Tottenham upon the expiry of his contract this summer.

Any support at right-back for Alexander-Arnold should offer hard-running and intensity. The player in question must be happy to press high and lock on man-for-man, while also offering support in attack by operating high and wide against weaker sides.

The Athletic’s player similarity tool highlights another Dortmund defender — right-back Julian Ryerson — as a strong replacement for Carvajal. He racked up 15 assists last season, only trailing Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise in the Bundesliga, getting forward frequently to combine with Julian Brandt and pick out Serhou Guirassy with crosses from wide.

Although the 28-year-old Norwegian would likely be required to play a more defensively active role in a 4-4-2 under Mourinho, his dashboard highlights his combativeness and energy without the ball. He is a full-back who would add bite and a comparable offensive threat to Alexander-Arnold throughout the season.

A more attainable option with La Liga experience across Madrid could be Rayo Vallecano’s Andrei Ratiu. The 27-year-old Romania right-back has been a constant attacking outlet and a standout athlete for Inigo Perez’s high-intensity side, completing more take-ons and creating more chances than any other full-back in the Spanish top-flight.

Whoever they bring in across the back line, that combination of defensive tenacity and progressive quality will make Mourinho’s tough-tackling and counter-attacking philosophy easier to instil.

Further up the pitch, Madrid are well stocked from a physical perspective, with Bellingham, Valverde and Camavinga able to play hard-running, box-to-box midfield roles.

Their performances in more end-to-end games — not least a 3-0 win away at Athletic Club in December — will provide optimism for Mourinho, where Madrid’s box midfield and two-striker formation covered ground effectively and kept them on the front foot.

It is clear, however, that Madrid lack a tempo-setting midfielder in stodgier games, one in the mould of Kroos or Modric, who can direct in-possession play and dictate the flow of their attacks — opening up deeper defences with short, sharp passes in build-up and incisive forward balls.

Xabi Alonso trialled Arda Guler in that deeper position, a role that the 21-year-old Turkey international performed well, while Tchouameni also possesses the on-ball composure and expansive passing range to fulfil that function. But both those players were often exposed defensively, struggling to track runners and press effectively from a busy central midfield role.

If Mourinho can find a way to protect these defensive weaknesses with more aggression in the form of Bellingham and Valverde around them, there is no reason Guler and Tchouameni cannot play the role of orchestrator from deep. But perhaps the new manager will look to find a player with an equivalent skillset to Modric — at once press-resistant and creative on the ball, while snappy and defensively switched on without it — even in his final season at Madrid over 2024-25.

The Athletic’s player roles analysis picks out Stuttgart’s Angelo Stiller as a capable replacement, a deep-lying midfielder who is excellent at moving the ball forward with searching passes. The 25-year-old completed just over 19 per cent of his side’s progressive passes this term — the seventh-highest share of midfielders across Europe — pointing to a player who is accustomed to dealing with large amounts of possession and directing his team’s attacks.

Aleix Garcia is similarly expansive in possession, a hard-working midfielder with a knack for set-piece deliveries and curling crosses, who was arguably La Liga’s player of the season in 2022-23 as Girona secured a shock third-placed finish. He rivalled even Kroos then when it came to long, floated passes into the final third, while he has ended the season strongly at Bayer Leverkusen.

Atalanta’s Ederson is another compelling candidate. The 26-year-old is a skilled reader of the game and does not shy away from a tackle, while he retains possession smartly with short passes and neat touches across midfield — the kind of all-action midfield facilitator who quietly allows team-mates to thrive. But Manchester United have tracked him since last summer.

Links to Manchester City’s Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Rodri have also grown in recent seasons, particularly after the Spain international suggested he “could not turn down” a potential move to Madrid back in March. Now 29, there are concerns around his fitness after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament rupture last year, but he would undoubtedly represent the kind of statement signing Perez likes to make.

Madrid do not necessarily have a problem scoring goals.

Mbappe has been excellent in front of goal since he joined from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2024, with a return of 55 league goals across his two seasons in Spain — yet things are still not quite right as an attacking unit.

The issues are around the balance across the front line, with Mbappe known to drift into the left-sided channels where Vinicius Jr operates — leading to the pair occasionally getting on top of each other in a skewed attack.

With 43 per cent of Madrid’s attacking touches coming down the left third of the pitch, no La Liga side is more reliant on a single flank. Add in the fact that Mbappe and Vincius Jr offer little defensively and there is a case to be made that the wider team cannot work effectively when they are both in the side.

Despite being viewed as a defensively minded coach, Mourinho led Madrid to one of the best attacking seasons in their history when he was last manager. Madrid’s 100 points and 121 goals scored in 2011-12 remains a La Liga record (Barcelona matched those 100 points the following season), knocking a generational Pep Guardiola-led Barca team off their perch in the process.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the key member of the attacking unit, scoring 46 league goals in the process — only once (48 in 2014-15) has the Portugal star scored more in a single season across his career. Mourinho’s team dynamic allowed Ronaldo to thrive in attack, which should give Madrid encouragement that he might have a similar plan for Mbappe.

Could that mean a shock omission of Vinicius Jr to readdress the balance that is lacking? It would be a huge decision from the club, but two seasons without major silverware shoehorning the Brazil forward and Mbappe together suggest things cannot continue like this.

Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior have not always worked well together (Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images)

That balance might be regained with a single focal point of Madrid’s attack. Vangelis Pavlidis has led the line as a traditional target man at Benfica under Mourinho. The 21-year-old Gonzalo Garcia could be an option to step up in a similar mould, although The Athletic has reported that the academy graduate will not be part of Madrid’s plans next season.

That leaves the right flank, which has seen a rotating cast of Guler, Franco Mastantuono, Brahim Diaz, Valverde and Rodrygo selected to try and complement Madrid’s other stars.

Rodrygo’s selflessness has seen him play on the right side for plenty of his Madrid career, despite his preference for the left flank. A serious knee injury means the 25-year-old Brazil international is out for the foreseeable future anyway, with a left-footed, right-sided attacker required to provide better attacking balance.

Brahim, Guler and Mastantuono all offer that left-footed flair, but each of the trio are more ball-to-feet creators who are likely to drift inside rather than hug the touchline.

The same could be said of Nico Paz, who offers a skillet more akin to an attacking midfielder than an out-and-out winger. Madrid retain buyback options for the 21-year-old, who has impressed since they sold him to Como in 2024.

Brazil international Endrick enjoyed an excellent loan at Lyon during the second half of this season. While nominally viewed as a centre-forward, his player dashboard below highlights how often the 19-year-old operated as a right-winger — with a creativity and trickery that would offer something different to Madrid’s attack next term.

If Endrick were to be viewed more as a goalscoring winger on the right, it could mean that many of Mourinho’s attacking solutions might already be found internally.

Partner those forwards with a marauding left-back and a fully-fit Alexander-Arnold delivering searching crosses from right-back, and there is evidence to suggest Madrid’s squad overhaul might actually be better served by implementing more subtle tweaks to personnel.

The task for Mourinho will be to find that tactical balance to allow each of those players to thrive and work together as a coherent unit, in and out of possession.

He showed that he could do that to great effect during his last spell in Spain. Whether he can repeat the feat over a decade later remains to be seen.