José Mourinho's Return to Real Madrid

surely it's just a matter of time

In mid-December, El Pais wrote that Perez had contacted Jorge Mendes back when Lopetegui was still Real manager on the brink, and Mourinho was still at Man United.
Mendes apparently told Perez that Mourinho was going to leave United in summer 2019 anyway and would be interested in a return to Real.
Since then, the interest has surely intensified from both sides.
Mourinho is no longer employed at Manchester, Lopetegui has been sacked only to be replaced by the stop gap solution Solari, whom according to EL Pais Perez never actually meant to keep around for the 3 years of his contract -those were just a signal to the squad to take the interim solution seriously. This signal seems to not have been understood as the recent poor results and performances of the team under Solari show.
Without a doubt Solari is a dead man walking, and seeing how poorly Sergio Ramos is figuring in the Real defense, it will be interesting to see how the returning Mourinho will deal with this problem. It will be entertaining.

Also interesting that Eden Hazard had this to say a couple of months back: "I someone would ask me with which coach I would like to work again, I would say: Mourinho". Guess he knew he would have to play nice with Mourinho not to endanger his dream move to Real Madrid....

ElPais is a shit publication (more specifically Diego Torres who writes about Madrid), they invent stuff, good source lol

Tbh they are made for each other. it is inevitable.

I understand why you would be in denial Nick

but I just paraphrased that El Pais stuff so that I could fill the opening post with something

the actual source for this thread's story is

common sense

Hapless_Hans wrote:I understand why you would be in denial Nick

but I just paraphrased that El Pais stuff so that I could fill the opening post with something

the actual source for this thread's story is

common sense

hiring Mourinho back is actually against common sense though
1) his tenure in Madrid ended quite poorly, with most senior players turned against him
2) he has done nothing to show that he is mellowed out, and he is by all metrics a manager who creates a lot of disturbance.
3) his recent tenure at United ended extremely poorly.

So no sorry, there is no common sense here.

I would submit for consideration that we are talking about a club president who thought it a good idea to hire Rafa Benitez to a top job in the year of the lord 2015

You're on a roll, hans.

Granted, the faith in Florentino's decision making has wavered as of late especially with the Solari hire, but I don't think he would make the mistake of going back to the well for Mourinho.

If Flo's pride kept him from going back for VDB again, I can't even imagine the mental gymnastics needed to wrap your mind around going for Mourinho again after 2 additional collapses in his time with Chelsea and then United.

"My hunch is that Mourinho will manage Madrid next season" - Ramón Calderón

Calderón of shitty opinions. I don't think he'll shut up, even after he passes away. There will be a straw sticking out of his butthole and up through the soil, so he can pester bypassers at the graveyard.

If Jose returns, I'm gonna be a Bayern fan for the duration of his tenure.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:You're on a roll, hans.

Hapless_Hans wrote:I would submit for consideration that we are talking about a club president who thought it a good idea to hire Rafa Benitez to a top job in the year of the lord 2015

Better hire than any Bayern hire in last 20 years tbh. (Except for Heynckes)

Rafa did suck but I honestly would rather see his him than Jose. Maybe he can show Vini those "how to score" documents he tried showing CR

Doc wrote:Rafa did suck but I honestly would rather see his him than Jose. Maybe he can show Vini those "how to score" documents he tried showing CR

He's the only person preventing me from turning into a spectacular angry dickhead ( even more than usual hahahaha funny joke lol) so I'd prefer you didn't.

Rafa dug his own grave when he made the wrong moves, in terms of player management. His short stint in charge of RM was undoubtedly a flop, but I honestly don't discredit his ability as a manager because of it.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Doc wrote:Rafa did suck but I honestly would rather see his him than Jose. Maybe he can show Vini those "how to score" documents he tried showing CR

He's the only person preventing me from turning into a spectacular angry dickhead ( even more than usual hahahaha funny joke lol) so I'd prefer you didn't.

Technically, I don't know how much more of an angry dickhead you can be realistically but sure. Also, would always have a soft spot for Rafa, do not hate him in the slightest. But he did have a horrid tenure at Madrid unfortunately.

Thimmy wrote:Rafa dug his own grave when he made the wrong moves, in terms of player management. His short stint in charge of RM was undoubtedly a flop, but I honestly don't discredit his ability as a manager because of it.

A lot of his decisions on the pitch baffle me tbh, not playing Casemiro against Barca is very unlike him.

Don't think we've played a game without a DM lol, i often wonder why that happened because it's not normal at all.

Casemiro had just returned from being loaned out to Porto, if I remember correctly. He performed really well at Porto, which was why he returned that season, but he wasn't an established performer by any means. As always, there's a lot of politics involved in this club, so that might've affected his decisions or alternatives, as well.

Benitez flopped at Madrid, was horrible for Inter, and was a low point for Napoli.

Maybe Newcastle revived him, before that he was poor or irrelevant for years.

rincon wrote:Benitez flopped at Madrid, was horrible for Inter, and was a low point for Napoli.

Maybe Newcastle revived him, before that he was poor or irrelevant for years.

Wasn't really arguing that, was just talking about some of the decisions he made at Madrid. A lot of them aren't normal for his history tbh, that's why i'm so confused by it.

A lot of the issues he had there stem from him making decisions he didn't make before or since, very confusing IMO all things considered.

rincon wrote:Benitez flopped at Madrid, was horrible for Inter, and was a low point for Napoli.

Maybe Newcastle revived him, before that he was poor or irrelevant for years.

Was his stint at Napoli really that bad? He lost Cavani during his first season, but he brought in some really good, bargain bin players like, Gonazalo Higuaín, Dries Mertens and José Callejón. He brought in Koulibaly as well, the following season. He built the foundation for a very solid team. Unfortunately for him, he's not the type of manager who builds a team for the short term, and I was under the impression that he got sacked before the team really hit their stride. At Madrid, he seemed to get the best out of Benzema, but pissed off other individuals on the team. I don't think he was a good fit for this crop of players, and I don't believe anyone can confidentally judge his tactical know-how based on his short visit in the capital city.

Clarifying some things.

Benitez wasn't sacked, he quit Napoli to go to Madrid. Napoli (as all teams in Serie A) has a sporting director and is run particularly well by the board in terms of signings for the long term. We can guess which signings he had a hand on (surge in Spanish players should be his influence) but he definitely wasn't bringing in players.

Benitez made the feat of missing out on CL on both of his seasons there. Mazzarri took them to CL twice (3 times?). Sarri took Napoli to another 3 CLs. Ancelotti getting them CL again. It's huge for the buget of Serie A teams.

In the end, Mazzarri left them 2nd, Sarri left them 2nd, Ancelotti has them 2nd, Benitez left them 5th below Lazio and Fiore. He did so playing football that looked boring in Serie A, which is a feat just by itself .

He won them a cup or two though.