Real Madrid's Final Pre-Season Friendly Against Schalke: Key Absences and New Faces

Real Madrid head into their final dress rehearsal of the summer with questions, intrigue and a few notable absences.

On Sunday, Jose Mourinho takes his team to Gelsenkirchen to face Schalke 04 in their last pre-season friendly before La Liga begins on August 22, when Real visit Espanyol in Barcelona. It’s the final chance to fine-tune, to experiment, and to hand debuts to some of the club’s newest faces.

Mbappé and the new era

Mourinho will be able to call on Yan Diomande, Marc Cucurella and Ibrahima Konaté, none of whom has yet played a minute for Real Madrid. All three are in line to make their first appearance in white in Germany.

Kylian Mbappé could join them.

The French forward only returned to training this week after his World Cup break, but the Schalke game offers a natural window for his first outing under the Portuguese coach. A cameo, even a brief one, would be enough to ignite the build-up to the Espanyol opener.

Bellingham and Tchouameni in limbo

The biggest doubts, though, sit in midfield.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Jude Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouameni are the main question marks for the trip to Gelsenkirchen. Bellingham was back in training on Wednesday, leaving Mourinho to decide whether the England international is ready to be thrown straight into a matchday squad.

Tchouameni’s situation mirrors it. The French midfielder is coming back from a minor muscular issue and is expected to be ready for the league start, but his involvement against Schalke is still unclear.

Both are central to Mourinho’s plans. Bellingham is set to be restored to his favoured role as an attacking midfielder, operating just behind the centre-forward, a position that lets him dictate the tempo and arrive late in the box. Tchouameni, by contrast, will be fighting for one of the two holding roles, battling with Federico Valverde, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga for a spot in the double pivot.

For now, though, their status for Sunday hangs in the balance.

Injury list grows, six stay home

What is certain is who will not travel.

Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo, Thiago Pitarch and Éder Militão are all sidelined as they continue to recover from injuries. They will remain in Madrid to push on with their rehabilitation while the rest of the squad heads to Germany.

Endrick has now joined that list. The Brazilian has suffered a muscle overload and is also expected to miss the Schalke clash. Mourinho will be desperate to have him, Bellingham and Tchouameni all available when Real Madrid walk out at Espanyol next week.

A historic summer in the academy

Away from the first team, Real Madrid’s academy is living through a summer of upheaval.

The exodus from La Fábrica shows no sign of slowing, with a long line of youngsters leaving in search of minutes and opportunity. The next to go looks set to be Jacobo Ortega, who is closing in on a move to Strasbourg. If completed, it would make him the most expensive sale of a Real Madrid youth player yet to feature for the first team.

He will not be the last.

Real are also preparing to sanction the departures of two more academy products: Manuel Ángel and David Jiménez.

Manuel Ángel and David Jiménez on the move

According to AS, both players have effectively reached the end of their cycle with Castilla. Interest in them is widespread, from the top flight to the second division and beyond, but no deal has yet been finalised.

The club has already taken precautions. Manuel Ángel and Jiménez have been training separately and have been left out of Castilla’s pre-season friendlies and matchday squads, a deliberate decision to avoid any injury that could complicate or derail potential transfers.

Once Ortega’s sale and other outgoing deals are added up, Real Madrid’s academy income this summer is expected to exceed €200 million. Inside Valdebebas, the window is being labelled as historic.

Two standouts from a golden generation

Both Manuel Ángel and Jiménez were key figures in Álvaro Arbeloa’s treble-winning academy generation, a group that also featured Nico Paz and Gonzalo García.

Manuel Ángel, 22, is a cerebral midfielder who joined La Fábrica in 2014 and has long been viewed as one of the standout talents in the system. Comfortable with either foot and composed under pressure, he broke into the first team towards the end of last season, making seven appearances. The priority now is clear: find him a club where he can play regularly and grow.

David Jiménez is cut from a different cloth but carries similar promise. An attacking full-back with one of the most highly rated right feet in the academy, he has drawn comparisons to Dani Carvajal for his leadership and forward thrust. He, too, featured for the first team last season, impressing under both Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa.

For both players, the equation is simple but delicate: pick the right destination, at the right time. Real Madrid, the players and their entourages are all waiting for the offer that unlocks the next step.

While Mourinho’s side fine-tune in Gelsenkirchen and chase sharpness before Espanyol, the academy is reshaping itself in the background — cash-rich, talent-heavy, and facing the same question that hangs over the entire club: where does this new era lead next?