Jose Mourinho shows why top managers are never “washed”

September 10, 2026 Olaoluwa Nwobodo 1 Comment

When Jose Mourinho was appointed Real Madrid manager on June 11, many predicted that it was an impending disaster. This opinion was fueled by many things, some were based on fact, others were simply based on narratives…false narratives. Some argued that he left on sour terms the last time, falling out with key players like Iker Casillas and, according to rumour, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Read more of our previews and articles on the Spanish league in our LaLiga section

The Portuguese manager did leave on unpleasant terms, but that doesn’t make him a bad manager. It doesn’t even make him a poor man manager. The reason some others expect him to fail at Real Madrid is based on narratives backed by nothing concrete.

Is Mourinho washed as a manager?

It has been a while since the three-time Premier League winner managed a European giant, and many assumed that it was because no one considered him good for the top level anymore. This line of thinking, while sound on the surface, is backed by nothing. Yes, younger managers have been getting opportunities at clubs that’d have hired experienced hands.

The reason for that, however, can be more easily explained by the cost of hiring an exciting up and comer, compared to the cost of hiring the proven and tested. Take Chelsea for example. BlueCo, since taking over in 2022, have hired Graham Potter, Enzo Maresca, and Liam Rosenior, before going after Xabi Alonso. Those managers were exciting at the time, yes, but there were also cheap hires that would have been smart financial moves if they had worked out.

Mourinho not being offered jobs at Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, or any number of big European teams, does not mean he is washed. It just means most of those teams considered him too expensive. Football is a business as much as it’s a sport.

Mourinho’s recent SL Benfica stint

Many are arguing that Mourinho didn’t do anything special at the jobs he did get. I would have entertained that argument…if the former Porto manager was not expected to essentially build a mansion with four logs of wood and six packs of nails.

A manager’s tools are as important as his coaching expertise. Yes, Mourinho should be expected to get more out of a group of players than the average manager. The problem is that his reputation makes people think he has the ability to turn any team into title contenders.

All the teams he won trophies with had very good players, and no manager without good players has ever been expected to win trophies…except Mourinho.

His recent Benfica stint showed that he was still as good as ever. For those who don’t realize how good his stint was, let me break it down in numbers.

Points

Mourinho’s Benfica side finished the season with 80 points, and while they did not win the league, that points tally is worth taking a second look at. In 34 games, 80 points comes to 2.35 points per game (PPG). To put it in context, 2.35 PPG comes to about 90 points in a 38 game season. That is ridiculously impressive.

Unbeaten

Mourinho’s Benfica went unbeaten in the league (23 wins, 11 draws), making it the second time in the club’s history. The first was in the 1977/78 season, where they also didn’t win the league, and averaged about 2.4 PPG as well.

Goals

Benfica finished with 74 goals, ~2.17 goals per game. In a 38-game season that’d have been 83 goals. For context, no team in the Premier League last season scored up to 83 goals. In LaLiga, only Barcelona crossed that.

Mourinho did an objectively good job with Benfica.

Why Mourinho is likely to restore Real Madrid to “some” glory, at least

Barcelona is tearing it up at the moment, destroying any team disrespectful enough to play against them. That said, Real Madrid has performed very well in the first four games so far. Much better than they did at the same stage last season.

In four league games so far, Real Madrid has won three, and failed to score in the fourth. The 15-time Champions League winners have averaged 2.5 goals per game, only bettered by a ridiculous 4.3 by Barca.

What’s more interesting, however, are the performances. Madrid is averaging 4.8 big chances per game, meaning that the club is not struggling to create goalscoring chances. In fact, the men in white created more big chances (7) in the game they didn’t score, than they did in any of the games they won.

Their performance in the Champions League is even more impressive. The Galacticos created nine big chances against Inter Milan on Gameday 1. Nine. Unfortunately they only converted two. Real Madrid even created more big chances than Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), who beat Slovan 6-1.

Conclusion

Real Madrid’s performances so far prove one thing: the team will not have a problem finding goals this season. Which is not bad for a manager that everyone said was too defensive to offer anything exciting to a big team.

This will also have an effect on Kylian Mbappe, who has now scored five goals in five games. It should be more, as he missed six big chances in two games against Real Betis and Inter. He’d score quite a lot this season, and may even hit 40 league goals. Safe to say, Mourinho has only just started.