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Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho is in the final stages of talks to return to manage Real Madrid, 13 years after he first left the Santiago Bernabeu.
Mourinho, 63, is the most likely candidate to take over as manager, and is currently the only candidate with whom Real Madrid are still holding formal talks.
If an agreement is reached, he will succeed Alvaro Arbeloa who took over in January following the departure of Xabi Alonso.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez began considering the possibility of Mourinho returning two days after Xabi Alonso’s departure, through initial contact with the Portuguese coach’s representatives.
Mourinho is currently the coach of Benfica after signing a two-year contract in September last year. However, he avoided discussing his future yesterday.
“There is a match against Estoril, and from Monday I will be able to answer questions about my future and Benfica’s,” said Mourinho.
Saturday’s match against Estoril Praia will be Benfica’s last of the season.
From Sunday, Real Madrid will have the opportunity to complete the deal at a low cost thanks to a clause in the contract that allows Mourinho to leave for a fee of three million euros within 10 days after the final match of the season.
In his first spell at Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013, Mourinho led the club to La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.
After leaving Madrid, he returned to Chelsea and won his third Premier League title as well as the EFL Cup in the 2014–15 season.
In 2016, he joined Manchester United where he won the Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield before being sacked in 2018 due to poor results.
Mourinho has also managed Tottenham Hotspur, AS Roma where he won the Europa Conference League in 2022, and Fenerbahce before joining Benfica last year.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid ended the 2025-2026 season without a trophy, while their rivals Barcelona won the La Liga title after a 2-0 win in El Clasico and finished with a 14-point lead.
In the Champions League, Real Madrid were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 6-4 on aggregate to German champions Bayern Munich.
