José Mourinho's Possible Return to Real Madrid and Matarazzo's Rising Star

José Mourinho edges towards a sensational return to Real Madrid, but his name is not the only one echoing through the corridors of the Bernabéu.

Florentino Pérez is said to be weighing up several candidates to succeed Álvaro Arbeloa, and among them, one stands out for his ideas rather than his past: Pellegrino Matarazzo. The 48-year-old American has quietly become one of the most admired modern coaches in Europe, and his work has not gone unnoticed in Madrid.

His football is bold, structured, relentlessly modern. At Real Sociedad, he has imposed a clear identity in a matter of months. He arrived in San Sebastián at the end of December 2025, inheriting a side drifting away from its ambitions. He has since dragged them back into the upper reaches of LaLiga and delivered a Copa del Rey triumph that has re-energised the club and its fanbase.

That trophy alone would have put him on any elite club’s radar. The added bonus: his Real Sociedad side have already secured a place in next season’s Europa League, despite sitting eighth in LaLiga. The table says mid-pack. The trajectory says something very different.

Inside the Bernabéu, those details matter. Matarazzo’s capacity to reset a team, to modernise its patterns and restore competitiveness, fits perfectly with how the club likes to think about its future. His contract in San Sebastián runs until 2027, but that has not stopped senior figures at Madrid from admiring his work and discussing his name.

Yet admiration is one thing. Decision-making at Real Madrid is another.

For all the interest in Matarazzo’s methods, the momentum around the job points squarely towards Mourinho. According to Belgian transfer specialist Sacha Tavolieri, the deal for the Portuguese coach is already done, with only the official announcement missing. Inside Madrid, backing for Mourinho as the next manager remains strong.

It would be a familiar choice. The “Special One” has a €3 million release clause in his Benfica contract, which also runs until 2027, a relatively modest figure for a club of Madrid’s financial power. If Pérez wants him, the path is clear. The club could confirm the move as early as next week, turning speculation into inevitability.

So the picture is this: a president with options, a fanbase bracing for a return of one of the most polarising coaches of the modern era, and a rising tactician whose stock grows by the week in the Basque Country.

Matarazzo may not walk through the Bernabéu doors this summer. All indications from Spain suggest such a move is unlikely, at least for now. But his name is already on the list, already in the conversation, already associated with the highest level.

If Mourinho’s second Madrid chapter does begin next week, one question will linger in the background: how long before a coach like Matarazzo stops being merely admired from afar and becomes the next man trusted to lead a giant?