![\"Five](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mou-spot-1778699604-196921.png\" "\\"Five")
<\/p>\nSpecial one returning\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n \u00a9TM\/IMAGO\n <\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Mourinho<\/a> is poised to return to Real Madrid<\/a> as their new manager, 13 years after leaving amid a tempestuous relationship with leading players. It\u2019s understood that an announcement confirming the 63-year-old appointment will be made after Benfica<\/a> play their final game of Liga Portugal<\/a> at the weekend, with Mourinho set to complete an invincible season. Mourinho will be tasked with repairing a fractured dressing room at Madrid in a season dominated by in-fighting with Barcelona<\/a> dominant again in LaLiga.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Vinicius Junior fell out with Xabi Alonso<\/a>, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> is reportedly unpopular amongst teammates and caretaker \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa<\/a> was unable to install calm. Moreover, the problems escalated and reached boiling point when Federico Valverde<\/a> and Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni<\/a> were fined after a heated argument. Some eyebrows have been raised over the decision to add the notoriously disputatious Special One into a turbulent environment but he was always the leading candidate for the all-powerful president Florentino Perez<\/a> – who cited Transfermarkt\u2019s famed market values in an extraordinary press conference on Wednesday<\/a>. Mourinho\u2019s inbox on his arrival back at the Santiago Bernabeu will be substantial but revamping an unbalanced squad will be amongst his priorities and we\u2019ve analysed five players facing an uncertain future.<\/p>\n \nFive Real Madrid stars facing uncertain futures<\/p>\n Vinicius Jr has been in excellent form in 2026 with Harry Kane the only top five league player to score more goals across all competitions. The Brazilian\u2019s future, however, remains up in the air as he\u2019s yet to sign a new contract and he will enter the last 12 months of his deal this summer. The situation around Vini Jr is quite simple – he signs a new deal or he\u2019s sold. Madrid can\u2019t allow one of their prized assets to leave on a free and Mourinho\u2019s input will be pivotal to the club\u2019s decision. It\u2019s been widely reported that the 25-year-old wants parity with Mbappe\u2019s wages, which could prove problematic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Valverde has been one of Madrid\u2019s best players across recent seasons and has captained the club regularly. But his bust-up with Tchoumaenci has cast doubt on his long-term future at Los Blancos. Despite publicly backing him in his aforementioned press conference, Perez is privately unhappy about Valverde\u2019s conduct, believing him to have instigated the disagreement, according to several reports. Speculative reports in England have suggested that Manchester United<\/a> could test Madrid\u2019s resolve but Valverde has all the characteristics that Mourinho would love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Madrid face a delicate financial situation fuelled mainly by the redevelopment of the Bernabeu and they will need to be smart in the transfer market this summer. Players will need to leave before Mourinho can shape his squad and it seems destined that Eduardo Camavinga<\/a> will depart. The Frenchman is contracted until 2029 but he\u2019s only started 15 games in LaLiga this season and Madrid would likely recoup a fee close to his \u20ac50m market value.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dani Ceballos<\/a> is another midfielder with no real future at Madrid. The Spanish international is a solid squad player but he\u2019s reportedly on a substantial wage and Madrid aren\u2019t really receiving a return on their investment. The 29-year-old won\u2019t generate a huge transfer fee but he\u2019ll free up some wages that could be used better elsewhere. Ajax<\/a>, Fenerbahce<\/a>, Real Betis<\/a> and Juventus<\/a> have all been linked and he won\u2019t be short of suitors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brahim Diaz<\/a> could generate Madrid a good transfer fee this summer, which could be reinvested to back Mourinho to secure his top targets. The winger hasn\u2019t scored a single goal in 27 league appearances this season and there\u2019s far better attacking players ahead of him in the pecking order – Nicolas Paz will also return in the summer. Valued at \u20ac35m, Diaz has been linked with PSG<\/a>, Benfica, Fenerbahce and Borussia Dortmund<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Special one returning\u00a0 \u00a9TM\/IMAGO Jos\u00e9 Mourinho is poised to return to Real Madrid as their new manager, 13…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[267603,36042,67076,4113,267606,267605,162817,191044,31419,188443,1056,38297,15160,7325,90706,98,6544,267604,544,75173,79,16,15,2617,19715],"class_list":{"0":"post-958190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ajax-amsterdam","9":"tag-alvaro-arbeloa","10":"tag-aurelien-tchouameni","11":"tag-borussia-dortmund","12":"tag-brahim-diaz","13":"tag-dani-ceballos","14":"tag-eduardo-camavinga","15":"tag-federico-valverde","16":"tag-fenerbahce","17":"tag-florentino-perez","18":"tag-jose-mourinho","19":"tag-juventus-fc","20":"tag-kylian-mbappe","21":"tag-laliga","22":"tag-liga-portugal","23":"tag-manchester-united","24":"tag-paris-saint-germain","25":"tag-real-betis-balompie","26":"tag-real-madrid","27":"tag-sl-benfica","28":"tag-sports","29":"tag-uk","30":"tag-united-kingdom","31":"tag-vinicius-junior","32":"tag-xabi-alonso"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116570217807086784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}