Mourinho Claims Real Madrid Squad is Closed Amid Rodri Departure

Jose Mourinho insists his Real Madrid squad is “closed” and complete, even as the shadow of a failed move for Rodri and the looming departures of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric hang over the club’s midfield.

The Portuguese coach, speaking on Tuesday, cut a defiantly satisfied figure after a summer in which Madrid rebuilt heavily but ultimately watched Rodri slip away to Barcelona.

“I am very happy with the players I have,” he said. And he meant it.

Rodri slips away, but Mourinho draws a line

Madrid went hard in the market. Six new faces arrived, headlined by record signing Yan Diomande and the gifted Bernardo Silva, with Marc Cucurella among the other reinforcements as the squad took on a new shape.

The plan, though, clearly included another pillar in midfield. That pillar was Rodri.

Talks collapsed. Barcelona swooped. And suddenly, beyond the marquee arrival of former Manchester City playmaker Silva, Madrid’s midfield looked much the same as before — only without Kroos and Modric to lean on for control.

Yet Mourinho refused to frame it as a setback.

“For me the squad is closed, but the market is still open – you never know if a player will come and say ‘I’ve been benched twice and I want to leave,’” he told reporters. “In theory, no [more deals]… but something could always happen… In my head the squad is closed, and I have not asked for anyone.”

The message was clear: if the club moves, it will not be at his demand.

Life after Kroos and Modric

Kroos walked away in 2024. Modric is set to follow in 2025. Between them, they defined an era and dictated the rhythm of Madrid’s biggest nights.

Without them, Madrid have already shown signs of losing their grip on games. At Espanyol on Saturday, in their La Liga opener, they needed a late surge to scrape a 2-1 win.

Mourinho started Silva alongside Federico Valverde in the middle, a pairing rich in energy and invention but still untested as the long-term heartbeat of a title-chasing side.

Control, once a given with Kroos and Modric, is now a puzzle Mourinho must solve on the fly.

Tchouameni held back, not risked

One key piece of that puzzle will not be involved against Real Sociedad on Wednesday. Aurelien Tchouameni, the French defensive midfielder, has been ruled out of starting as he continues to battle a physical issue.

“He’s got a problem, the holiday time wasn’t enough [for him to recover], seeing the games approaching, the player wanted to try … but we’ve decided that you can’t start a season in suffering,” Mourinho explained.

“You can finish a season suffering, the last couple of months, but you can’t start in August not at 100 percent. So we decided with him, the staff, the medical department, to get him to return at 100 percent.”

No gamble, no half-measures. Not in August.

Valverde’s role at the heart of it

If Tchouameni sits out, the burden shifts again towards Valverde. The Uruguayan has been used almost everywhere by previous Madrid coaches — right-back, right wing, box-to-box runner — a tactical Swiss army knife.

Mourinho wants to sharpen him into something more specific.

“For me he is a player for the centre of the pitch,” the coach insisted. Depending on the opponent and the game plan, Valverde may be asked to hold his position or roam more freely, but always from the middle, always in the thick of it.

This is where Mourinho sees his future.

Positions blur in Mourinho’s Madrid

Asked about roles and labels, Mourinho pushed back against the old numbers game.

“I don’t want to identify Tchouameni as the No. 6, Camavinga No. 6, Fede No. 8, Bernardo No. 10 … things dilute during games,” he said.

In his vision, Madrid’s midfield will be fluid, interchangeable, less about fixed positions and more about zones, responsibilities and moments. The names are big, the roles are elastic.

The squad, in his words, is closed. The market, by definition, is not. With Rodri in Barcelona colours and Kroos and Modric gone or going, the real question is whether this new, shape-shifting Madrid can truly control matches when the season’s pressure begins to bite.