11 May 2026 12:26 BST |<\/span> Robin Bairner Accredited football journalist and editor covering the game since 2006 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Real Madrid have offered Jose Mourinho the opportunity to become the club\u2019s next head coach, a credible report from Spain has confirmed.<\/p>\n Mourinho, who has also been linked with a return to Chelsea<\/b>is being kept informed of everything that is going on behind the scenes at the Bernabeu<\/b> and need only agree to return to the club in order to land the job, AS<\/i><\/b> reports.<\/p>\n Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has settled on the Portuguese as his top choice to replace Alvaro Arbeloa, who is poised to be sacked after a catastrophic reign having taken over from Xabi Alonso in January.<\/p>\n AS<\/i> is certain about Mourinho\u2019s status as Los Blancos top choice for the job, claiming that he has received reports on every player as well as the background situation at the club.<\/p>\n It states: \u201cIf the Portuguese manager accepts the challenge, the job will be his. He knows firsthand the Real Madrid president’s intention to give him the reins again.\u201d<\/p>\n Mourinho has been told that he will likely have to work with much of the current squad. The Real Madrid board have conducted an analysis and believe that the players who struggled under Alonso and Arbeloa still have what it takes to get back to their previous levels.<\/p>\n The exception comes in defence, where AS<\/i> claims that three or four new signings will be made to shore up an area that has struggled this season.<\/p>\n It adds that Endrick will return from his loan at Lyon, while the buy-back option for Nico Paz, who has enjoyed a highly successful spell at Como, will be executed.<\/p>\n Mourinho spoke about a possible return to Madrid during a press conference on Sunday, where he downplayed the prospect and denied having held talks with Los Blancos.<\/p>\n \u201cThey keep talking about Real Madrid, and I keep avoiding it, but avoiding it with complete honesty,\u201d Mourinho said<\/b>.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven’t had any contact, not with the president nor with any of the important people in the club.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my own decision – a decision similar to others I’ve made during my career – especially now in the final stages of the season, I don’t talk to anyone.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven’t had any contact with Real Madrid, I haven’t, and I won’t until the last league game against Estoril either.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, there’s a window of about a week where I’ll have the freedom to talk to whomever I think I should talk to, but all the stories that have come out about demands, meetings… it’s all speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n Mourinho\u2019s account differs from that of the Spanish media, which is further corroborated by transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano.<\/p>\n \u201cI can confirm Mourinho is talking to Real Madrid, and people close to him are talking to Real Madrid too,\u201d he told his YouTube<\/b> channel.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Mourinho lying, is he telling the truth, is he denying the story? Guys, I always say Mourinho is a master of communication, one of the best ever in football. He knows very well how to handle press conferences and public statements.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMourinho is saying in public what he feels, and again I consider him one of the best communicators in football ever. Real Madrid have activated the Mourinho operation. Now it is on Real Madrid, and specifically on Florentino Perez, to decide the future of the manager.\u201d<\/p>\n The signs are increasingly pointing to Mourinho\u2019s return to Real Madrid, but equally nothing will be made official until after Benfica\u2019s campaign is over.<\/p>\n Real Madrid make official Tchouameni statement as tearful Arbeloa hits out at \u2018betrayal\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n Transfer Rumours: Arsenal interest in Osimhen confirmed after Berta talks<\/b><\/p>\n Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Ederson to Man Utd latest, Mourinho talks, Valverde decision<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 11 May 2026 12:26 BST | 5 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Robin Bairner | Chief…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n Chief Editor<\/span>\n <\/div>\nReal Madrid offer job to Mourinho<\/h2>\n
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Mourinho speaks out on Real Madrid links<\/h2>\n
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Romano: Mourinho is talking to Real Madrid<\/h2>\n
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