Real Madrid president Florentino Perez hired Jose Mourinho after two straight seasons without any silverware in order to get this squad back in top shape and back to winning, and you know it is a crisis point for Madrid when Perez is turning to Mou, who saved Real Madrid from a massive slip in standards about 15 years ago.
A lot of finger pointing from the fan base has been directed towards the club's two biggest attacking superstars, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, for whining, complaining, underperforming, and not trying hard enough. While the data on pressing and defensive work rate paints the picture of a false equivalency being made, it is true that since his Ballon d'Or snub, Vinicius Jr. has not been able to elevate his game - and neither he nor Mbappe are on the same page since the Frenchman's arrival to the Santiago Bernabeu.
While getting more out of Vinicius and, especially, Mbappe will be a key task for Mourinho, he actually has an even bigger issue to solve for Real Madrid, and that is the midfield. The Real Madrid midfield has been in shambles since Toni Kroos left, and they are realizing just how much they relied on him and Luka Modric, who also departed the club last season.
Real Madrid need more from their midfield
Real Madrid's midfield was he worst it has been last season, and it is quite jarring that Xabi Alonso, once a great midfielder himself, really accelerating their downfall with poor coaching and talent identification, placing his two best players in Jude Bellingham and Fede Valverde in clear positions to fail.
Fede, Aurelien Tchouameni, and Eduardo Camavinga, though, can't pin it all on coaching. All three of them were disappointing last season, and while Camavinga has been singled out a lot by the fan base as someone whose development has stagnated, Tchou has somehow been praised despite never creating chances and often leaving his center backs hung out to dry with poor effort defensively.
Jose Mourinho was able to bring in free agent Bernardo Silva from Manchester City, but he missed out on his more illustrious teammate, Rodri, who was so disfavored by Florentino Perez that he now appears to be headed to rivals Barcelona after literally winning the World Cup Golden Ball.
Real Madrid cannot win at the highest level of European football or take the La Liga title away from Barcelona's deep and talented midfield if their own midifeld isn't up to par. If they aren't winning their battles in the middle of the park, it doesn't even matter what the heck VInicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe are doing; Mourinho has to get these guys to play much better in 2026/27.
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