José Mourinho Is Returning to Real Madrid. The Contract Is Signed. The Announcement Is Coming.

When the rumours first emerged in January, Mourinho called them a soap opera and told people not to count on him. Benfica president Rui Costa said publicly he would stay. Real Madrid denied they were pursuing a new sporting director. Every official channel said nothing was happening.

None of it was true.

José Mourinho has signed a contract to return to Real Madrid as head coach until June 2029. The Athletic’s David Ornstein confirmed the deal. Sky Sports, ESPN, Goal.com and Fabrizio Romano all followed with the same information. The announcement was delayed only because Florentino Pérez triggered presidential elections at the club on May 12, with the vote scheduled for June 7. Once Pérez wins that vote, the formal unveiling follows immediately.

Madrid are not waiting for the announcement to start planning. Preparations for Mourinho’s backroom staff and summer recruitment are already underway.

How It Happened

The timeline matters here because the story moved quickly once it began in earnest.

Pérez opened negotiations with Mourinho on May 8 according to The Athletic. Those talks were private and remained so even as Benfica insisted publicly their manager was staying. Mourinho himself said nothing of substance, neither confirming nor denying, while waiting for Benfica’s final league game against Estoril on May 16 before making his decision.

Read Also: Paulo Fonseca Criticises Endrick’s Performance as Brazil Star Announces His Expectation

He had already privately told people at Benfica he was leaving before that final match. They were forced to begin tracking Fulham manager Marco Silva as a replacement after Ruben Amorim rejected interest.

Mourinho finishes his Benfica tenure with the club having completed an unbeaten Primeira Liga campaign, finishing third. It was a solid season. It was also, clearly, not enough to keep him in Lisbon.

Why Pérez Went Back to Mourinho

Real Madrid had a disastrous 2025/26 season. Xabi Alonso was appointed in the summer of 2025 after years of speculation that he was the club’s long-term managerial successor. He lasted seven months. He was sacked in January following a Super Cup defeat to Barcelona and a run of league results that left Madrid trailing badly in the title race.

Álvaro Arbeloa stepped in as interim manager and the situation did not improve. The dressing room became a story in itself, most visibly through Kylian Mbappé’s public claim that he had been told he was the fourth-choice striker. Arbeloa denied it. Mbappé stood by it. The whole thing played out in press conferences for weeks.

Madrid went the entire 2025/26 season without a major trophy for the second consecutive year. That had not happened at the club since the early 2000s.

Pérez’s response was to go back to the one manager he trusts implicitly. Their personal relationship, which survived Mourinho’s acrimonious exit in 2013, has remained strong throughout the years in between. Tim Sherwood, speaking on Sky Sports, backed the logic despite the eyebrows it raised. “Unless Real Madrid win the league or the Champions League, it is going to be a year. It changes that often that it is bound to come back round to the same people again.”

Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol went further. “For Real Madrid to go back to José Mourinho tells you there is not that quality out there in terms of big-name managers. It is a strange one, but it tells you where the world is.”

What Mourinho Inherits

The problems waiting for him at the Bernabéu are significant.

A feuding dressing room where the captain publicly contradicted the interim manager. A squad that spent a billion euros and failed to win anything for two years. Mbappé’s situation, which is unresolved. A fanbase that is frustrated, divided and wants answers.

ESPN reports there is a climate of uncertainty and tension at Valdebebas, Madrid’s training ground, with staff fearing a clearout when Mourinho arrives. He wants to bring his coaching staff from Benfica. The name of Toni Kroos has been mentioned as a possible link role between the players, the coaching staff and senior executives, though no formal offer has been made.

Mourinho also faces the political dimension. Pérez’s presidential rival, businessman Enrique Riquelme, has said publicly that Mourinho would not be his choice. If Pérez faces a closer election than expected on June 7, the announcement timeline shifts. But sources close to the process say Pérez’s confidence in the outcome is reflected in the fact that planning is already underway.

What He Did the First Time

It is worth remembering what Mourinho actually achieved at Madrid between 2010 and 2013, because the narrative around his first spell sometimes focuses more on the exit than the record.

He won La Liga with 100 points, a record that still stands. He won the Copa del Rey. He took Madrid to three consecutive Champions League semi-finals, which he himself pointed out was more than the previous 18 Real Madrid managers had managed combined. Most significantly, he ended Barcelona’s era of dominance and restored a competitive edge to a club that had been second in its own country.

He did not win the Champions League, which was the expectation, and his relationship with certain players and the press deteriorated badly by the third season. He left under a cloud. That is also part of the record.

Whether the version of Mourinho that returns at 63 on a contract until 2029 can reproduce the best of that first spell while avoiding the worst of it is the only question that matters now.

The formal announcement is coming. The challenge starts immediately after.