Real Madrid have agreed a three-year contract with Jose Mourinho to become their next manager, setting up a return that comes with the club still waiting on who will control its wider sporting future. The deal is done, but the shape of the team around him is not.
That uncertainty matters now because Florentino Perez has called an unexpected presidential election for June 7, and the outcome could decide how much room Madrid have to spend and who gets to steer the summer. Perez, in charge since he returned in 2009, will face Enrique Riquelme in a vote that arrives while the club is already planning its next squad moves.
Madrid have spent years operating with a clear chain of command. Juni Calafat builds detailed reports on targets, Jose Angel Sanchez leads negotiations when the club moves for a player, and Perez keeps the final say on signings. Mourinho has already been talking with the club for weeks about the positions he believes need strengthening, with defence at the top of the list and a midfielder also on his mind.
The club and Mourinho agree on the need to strengthen after two seasons in a row without major trophies, and the targets reflect that urgency. Madrid want a right-back, a left-back ready to start, at least one centre-back with leadership qualities and a creative midfielder. They were also expected to improve in central defence and midfield before the election was called, while staying within budget on a second-choice right-back behind Trent Alexander-Arnold.
There is another wrinkle in the race for power. Riquelme has said that under his leadership Madrid would have a sporting director, and he told The Athletic last week that he had already secured one. On Monday, he named Raul, the 37-year-old former striker and Madrid youth coach. Even so, it is still not known who would make up the sporting staff if Riquelme wins next Sunday, and Raul’s appointment raises as many questions as it answers about how much influence the new president would actually hand over.
That is where Mourinho’s own authority becomes the real issue. During Carlo Ancelotti’s second spell, he had little say in major decisions, while Xabi Alonso was given more voice after arriving from Bayer Leverkusen last year. Mourinho would like a greater role than Ancelotti had, and Real Madrid even held talks with Toni Kroos before the election was called about bringing him into the structure after he retired in 2024, but the final balance of power will not be clear until the vote is over. For now, Madrid have their manager. What they do not yet have is a settled map of who will be running everything around him.
