Jose Mourinho returning to Real Madrid would be good news...for Newcastle United fans

View 3 Images

As bizarre a choice as it would be, there would be one positive ramification of Jose Mourinho returning for another managerial stint with Real Madrid. It would delay his return to the Premier League.

He will be back here before he is done, make no mistake about that. He will be back to undermine officials and play some pretty unwatchable football.

One club owner or other will like the publicity he brings and afford him a last hurrah in a competition he clearly has great affection for and has had fantastic success in. But that was a long time ago.

The game has moved on and there is little evidence Mourinho has moved with it. That is why it is hard to understand the thinking of Florentino Perez in wanting to re-hire Mourinho, other than his personal admiration of the Portuguese manager’s character.

And that is understandable. When he is not picking fights, Mourinho is a very charming man.

But he has not won anything for a while, his last trophy was the UEFA Conference League, with Roma, in the 2021-22 season. That ended a five-year wait for a trophy, his previous triumph was in the Europa League with Manchester United.

Mourinho’s last domestic league title came 11 years ago. His Benfica side are currently unbeaten in this season’s Primeira Liga but still trail Porto by seven points with four games left to play.

View 3 Images

Mourinho has always been linked with big jobs. He has a very good agent, amongst other things. But a return to Real Madrid, after his three years there at the start of the last decade, would still represent a big gamble by Perez.

There is surely one obvious issue. How would Vinicius Junior react to his appointment? In that bad-tempered Champions League game in Lisbon, Mourinho pretty much accused Vinicius Junior of inviting abuse by celebrating his goal.

“Unfortunately, he (Vinicius Junior) was not just happy to score that astonishing goal,” Mourinho said. “When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way.”

View 3 Images

The irony of Mourinho telling someone to celebrate respectfully was not lost on most people but his comments would have rightly offended Vinicius Junior, the innocent party in the matter. But apart from that specific issue, there is the broader question of what sort of football Mourinho would bring to the Bernabeu.

It would be wrong to judge everything in the context of that astonishing game between PSG and Bayern Munich in the Parc des Princes, but the football produced by Mourinho teams in recent years has seemed like dark age stuff compared to the offerings in Paris. But you would still not put it past Perez to again turn to Mourinho, who has also been linked with a move to St James’ Park should Eddie Howe leave the club at the end of the season.

If Mourinho does sign up for a second stint at Real Madrid, it is unlikely to end well. But on the plus side, at least it will be good news for Newcastle United fans.

Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.