Jose Mourinho already at odds with Florentino Perez over Real Madrid transfers

9 Jun 2026 06:32 BST | 4 min read

Jose Mourinho, Florentino Perez, Real Madrid — © IMAGO

Tom Weber | Writer

Multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer.

Jose Mourinho and Florentino Perez appear to have different ideas about what it takes for Real Madrid to become successful again.

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The legendary Portuguese manager has returned to the LaLiga giants after 13 years, following Perez's re-election as Real Madrid president in Sunday's election. The Los Blancos supremo believes that Mourinho is the right man to help the club reclaim their place in the sun.

The 63-year-old's previous spell was hugely controversial, but Perez credits him with laying the foundation for Real Madrid's Champions League domination in the 2010s and early 2020s.

Last season, Perez attempted to modernise the club by appointing Xabi Alonso, but this experiment backfired. The squad was not receptive to the new Chelsea manager's methods and revolted.

Perez now believes that by hiring a more old-school manager, the club will be able to move forward again. Moving forward, of course, means winning silverware, something that Real Madrid haven't done in two seasons.

Mourinho doesn't want Galacticos

Even before Sunday's election was decided, Perez had laid the groundwork for the new Mourinho era. An agreement with the manager was already in place, as were deals for Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate and Inter right-back Denzel Dumfries.

He also promised that, if re-elected, he would make a €150 million bid today, Tuesday, for an unnamed player. That player was later identified as Michael Olise, who is not for sale at any price according to his club Bayern Munich.

It has also been posited that Perez could instead pursue the controversial signing of Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez. Alternatively, Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who has a €140m asking price, is on the capital club's radar.

Whatever ends up happening later today, one thing is clear: Perez is trying to go big this summer in order to get Real Madrid back on their perch. This approach, though, may result in disagreements with Mourinho.

According to AS, the Portuguese has a very different idea of a coherent team. He seems to reject the Galactico model and instead wants players who are more malleable and hard-working.

It is claimed that Mourinho has made it clear to Perez that he "doesn't want big stars." Instead, the Madrid-based outlet writes, "he wants hungry players, eager to fight and run, footballers with ambition and no ego."

This does not appear to square with the Galactico approach. After all, one of the prevailing narratives of this recent Real Madrid slump has been that Galactico players like Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe divide the dressing room.

Run-ins with Mourinho look inevitable, and that's before we add the Gianluca Prestianni racism row into the equation, when the 63-year-old blamed Vinicius for the abuse he receives at games.

Real Madrid has been a powder keg over the last few years. Adding Mourinho into the mix is only going to make things more explosive.

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