Jose Mourinho has agreed a deal to return to Real Madrid as a coach and his first move would be to stop another former club, Manchester United, from signing one of his key players.
The 63-year-old Portuguese will replace Alvaro Arbeloa, who took over from new Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso in January and has guided the club to a guaranteed second place in LaLiga, although they sit 11 points behind champions Barcelona with one round of matches remaining.
Mourinho spent three years in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu between 2010 and 2013, winning the league title – his side became the first to reach 100 points – and the Copa del Rey.
His upcoming return follows weeks of speculation that he is the man former president Florentino Perez wanted to take the club forward as they try to challenge Barca, who have bounced back from winning three of the last four league titles, and are returning to prominence in the Champions League following this season’s quarter-final exit at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Perez has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks after two seasons without a trophy, and faced protests during last Thursday’s 2-0 league win over Oviedo at the Bernabeu.
Mourinho was appointed Benfica manager on a two-year contract in September last year and has led the Portuguese club to an unbeaten third-placed finish in the Primeira Liga behind Porto and Sporting Lisbon.
However, Mourinho is understood to have a limited release clause in his contract which allowed Real to offer him the prize for free at a relatively low cost.
Mourinho, who has been repeatedly touted as Portugal’s future manager, is still one of the biggest monsters in world football.
He first learned his trade under Sir Bobby Robson, who first worked as an English interpreter during his time in charge of Sporting and Porto before following him to Barca and working as his assistant.
After launching his managerial career in Portugal – he led Porto to two Primeira Liga titles and a Champions League title in 2004 – Mourinho moved to Chelsea and has since taken over at Inter Milan, Real, United, Tottenham, Roma, Fenerbahce and Benfica.
He won another European crown with Inter and league titles in England, Spain and Italy among a glittering list of domestic and continental trophies.
Man Utd are now ready to offer the Serie A star a £153m release clause
United want to sign “one of the best players in the world” this summer.
Mourinho’s first move could be to beat the Red Devils, and Football Insider has revealed that he is likely to block the Premier League club’s interest in Federico Valverde.
Mourinho is determined to stop Manchester United from signing Valverde
Indeed, the former Red Devils boss is keen to keep his key Los Blancos players and sees Valverde as one of them.
“If he is allowed to leave Real Madrid this summer, you can imagine that most of the big clubs in Europe would be interested,” Pete O’Rourke told the press.
“Obviously it looks like Jose Mourinho will return to the Bernabeu. He will have a big role to play for Valverde if he wants him to continue.
“It is not surprising that Manchester United is said to be interested in Valverde.
“Valverde has always expressed that he wants to stay in Madrid and sees them as his dream team and let’s see what Jose Mourinho has planned.
“I expect that Mourinho will want to keep Valverde and all the other famous players of Real Madrid, so it would be very difficult to make a deal.”
The Uruguayan, who earns £278,000-a-week according to Capology, was part of a fallout involving fellow United target Aurelien Tchouameni, with both players fined €500,000 by Real Madrid.
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His new club has agreed to a massive release clause.
Valverde, who can play almost anywhere on the pitch, has scored nine goals and provided 12 assists in all competitions this season, and was hailed as “unbelievable” by Casemiro when the pair were together in the Spanish capital.
