Real Madrid News
Real Madrid president ready to bring Mourinho more players than in 2010 to counter Barcelona
Barcelona’s dominance of Spanish football over the past two seasons has clearly rattled Real Madrid, and Florentino Perez is preparing to spend big to put an end to it.
The Blaugrana have won five of the last six domestic titles on offer, including back-to-back La Liga crowns, and Perez is now going all out to shift the balance of power.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the scale of Real Madrid’s spending this summer could even surpass the famous 2010 rebuild, when Perez last turned to Jose Mourinho to dethrone a great Barcelona side.
A summer of heavy spending
Real Madrid have already been busy this window, signing Ibrahima Konate and Bernardo Silva on free transfers, paying €60 million for Marc Cucurella and €20 million for Denzel Dumfries.
And they are not stopping there. Reports suggest the club are prepared to spend more than €100 million on RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande, while a further nine-figure move for Manchester City’s Rodri is also being lined up.
Should both deals materialise, this summer’s outlay would comfortably eclipse even the €182.2 million Real Madrid spent in 2025 on the likes of Franco Mastantuono, Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras and Trent Alexander-Arnold, none of whom have yet nailed down a regular role.
History repeating itself
The parallels with 2010 are striking.
Back then, Perez brought in Mourinho and surrounded him with the likes of Angel Di Maria, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and Ricardo Carvalho for around €60 million, all in an effort to topple Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona.
Perez has again hired the same coach, paying €15 million to release Mourinho from Benfica, and is offering the Portuguese an even wider range of reinforcements than he had 16 years ago.
History, therefore, is clearly repeating itself and it will be interesting to see how soon Real Madrid try and get the Diomande and Rodri deals done.
Real Madrid prospect Alexis Ciria will have to wait for his Champions League opportunity despite making a strong impression on Jose Mourinho during pre-season.
The Castilla winger has been left out of Real Madrid’s European squad, but the decision is the consequence of UEFA registration rules rather than a sporting judgment.
According to journalist Arancha Rodriguez (h/t Defensa Central), Ciria was not eligible for Madrid’s List B because he has not been with the club long enough to satisfy UEFA’s requirements.
Registering him would therefore have required Mourinho to include him on the more restrictive List A.
UEFA rules work against Ciria
List B provides clubs with additional flexibility to register young academy players, but being young enough is not sufficient on its own.
Players must also meet requirements concerning how long they have been eligible to represent the club.
Ciria does not meet those conditions because of his limited time at Valdebebas. Real Madrid would therefore have needed to sacrifice a List A position to register him.
With those places required for members of Mourinho’s senior squad, Ciria was ultimately left out.
Real Madrid’s List B instead includes youngsters such as Joan Martinez, Mario Rivas, Thiago Pitarch, Jorge Cestero and Daniel Yanez.
Many of these youngsters made a name for themselves under Mourinho during pre-season and could be used to make up the numbers in the Champions League squad.
They could also get some minutes off the bench, especially against relatively easier opposition, as Jose Mourinho looks to manage first-team minutes.
Mourinho still plans first-team opportunity
Importantly for Ciria, missing the Champions League squad does not appear to reflect a change in Mourinho’s opinion of him.
The youngster impressed during pre-season and is expected to continue spending time around the senior team.
Mourinho intends to give Ciria his official first-team debut during the season. That opportunity will now have to arrive in La Liga or the Copa del Rey.
The Portuguese tactician placed a lot of emphasis on trusting Castilla players during pre-season in the absence of first-team stars.
Ciria was one of the many names who made a name for themselves at Real Madrid during pre-season. He deserves a chance in the first team, and it remains to be seen how Jose plans his development.
