When Will Real Madrid Announce Jose Mourinho as New Manager?

When Florentino Pérez announced an “emergency” press conference on Tuesday, there were plenty who expected the Real Madrid president to make an announcement about the club’s next manager. However, there was no such update.

Incumbent Álvaro Arbeloa, himself only appointed in January, is widely expected to be moved on at the end of bitterly disappointing season that will conclude without a troiphy. Poor on-pitch performance has been further compounded by sensational reports of training ground fights and locker room disharmony, creating an air of chaos around the world’s biggest club.

Mourinho, who first managed Madrid between 2010–2013, is the frontrunner to succeed Arbeloa in the dugout, with some reports claiming talks are already at an advanced stage.

However, there was no Mourinho update on Tuesday, with Pérez instead launching into a sometimes surreal hour of score settling, while announcing presidential elections to take place this month.

When asked directly about the 63-year-old current Benfica manager by a journalist, Pérez simply replied “We’re not talking about that right now,” as the club’s general director José Ángel Sánchez watched on smiling.

The wait for official word on Mourinho goes on then, but when could a deal to bring the “Special One” back to the Bernabéu be announced?

All Signs Point to a Mourinho D-Day

Mourinho is under contract at Benfica until 2027, while he reportedly has an offer on the table to extend his deal from president Rui Costa.

There is one game left to play in the Portuguese season, with Benfica still in the mix for Champions League qualification. Remarkably, despite sitting third, the Lisbon giants could also go unbeaten.

As reported by AS, there's a clause in Mourinho's contract that allows him to leave Benfica for €3 million ($3.5 million) up to 10 days after Benfica play their last match. With Benfica’s final game of 2025–26 coming away to Estoril on May 16, that means that the deadline for Mourinho’s exit clause is May 26.

Interestingly, as AS point out, this lines up nicely with Real Madrid’s own end of season. Los Blancos conclude their disappointing domestic campaign against Athletic Club on May 23. Meanwhile, should Pérez start the election process imminently—and win the vote—he would be re-elected in time to make announcing Mourinho’s arrival the first order of business of his new term.

While Mourinho could still feasibly be signed from Benfica after the May 26 deadline, negotiations with Benfica would be less straightforward and more expensive for Madrid.

What has Mourinho Said About Madrid Return?

On Wednesday morning, Mourinho was approached by a crowd of journalists at Lisbon airport, who sprung questions on him about both Pérez’s comments and his own future. The 63-year-old, however, declined to repsond.

Speaking earlier in the week, after his team’s draw with Braga, Mourinho failed to commit to Benfica beyond the end of the season.

He told reporters: “The last week of the championship, the last two weeks of the championship, is not for thinking about the future, it’s not for thinking about contracts. It’s for thinking about the mission we had, which was to perform the miracle of finishing second.

“And when I say miracle, I think you understand what I mean by miracle. And from the moment we entered this final phase of the season, with these games that decided something important for the club, I decided that I didn’t want to listen to anyone, that I wanted to be, so to speak, isolated in my workspace.

“And then, as I said a couple of weeks ago, there’s a game against Estoril on Saturday, and I think that from Monday onwards I’ll be able to answer that question, the question of my future as a coach and the future of Benfica.”

He later added: “I continue to say that I haven’t spoken to anyone from another club. Now there’s talk of Real Madrid, but it could be any other club. I haven’t spoken to anyone from any club. But from the moment we entered this final phase of the season, I think it made absolutely no sense to do anything other than concentrate on my job. Starting Sunday, I’ll have that opportunity.”

READ THE LATEST REAL MADRID NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FC

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow