What does Rodri have to do with it? Real Madrid's weaknesses prove Mourinho's agenda right

Mourinho's unfulfilled demands haunt Real Madrid: defence and midfield in focus

The gaps in Real Madrid's squad show just how badly they needed the signings Jose Mourinho asked for. The club couldn't get them all over the line in the summer of 2026, and the Portuguese coach is now paying the price.

Sport newspaper report that Mourinho walked into Los Blancos with a clear idea of what he needed to rebuild the side.

Madrid delivered on much of his wishlist. In came Ibrahima Konate, Dumfries, Cucurella, Bernardo Silva, Diomande and Esbi.

Two positions went unaddressed, though. Mourinho wanted another centre-back to partner Konate, plus a midfielder who could give the style of play a fresh dimension. Neither arrived.

Getty Images
Failure to sign Rodri
In midfield, Mourinho had a very specific target. The Portuguese wanted a player who could organise the team from deep, bringing calm, balance and decision-making to an area that had long troubled the Bernabeu.
One name stood out: Rodri. Real Madrid did everything in their power to convince the Spain international, and Mourinho even spoke to him personally. The player chose Barcelona.
Strikingly, the club made no move for any of the alternatives on the market either.
Mourinho himself played down the deal in public. Having missed out on Rodri, he insisted Real Madrid were not short in that position, pointing to Tchouameni, Camavinga, Valverde, Bernardo Silva and Arda Guler.
Rodri, the coach explained, would have been "the cherry on top of the cake". It was an attempt to close the matter publicly. In truth, he had flagged the position as one of the priorities of his project the moment he arrived.

AFP
Ignoring the signing of an additional centre-back
The other request went unfulfilled: a centre-back. Real Madrid signed Konaté, but Mourinho wanted more at the back, having watched the defence rank among the team's most glaring weaknesses in recent years.
Behind the scenes, the club had looked at freeing up space for another defender should someone leave. In the end, nothing moved.
Raúl Asencio picked up an injury and stayed on the list, and the window shut without the extra centre-back the coach had demanded.
Central defence is where the first warning sign appears, the one that drags Mourinho's wishlist back into focus.
Injuries have hit the backline hardest. Asencio has yet to play a single match under the coach, and now he faces two to four months out with a fracture to his shin bone. Konaté and Militão are carrying physical problems of their own.
Options look thin in this position, especially with Huijsen suspended for the next game after his red card in the derby. The more intriguing debate, though, lies in midfield.
Early in the season, Mourinho turned to Trent Alexander-Arnold in that role alongside Valverde. The experiment flopped.
Season after season, everyone outside the club seems to spot the same flaw in how the squad is built. From the inside, that flaw apparently does not exist.
The Portuguese coach has a squad brimming with ability, and he has publicly backed the quality of his midfield and defensive players.
Even so, there's no ignoring the truth. Had Real Madrid met all of the Portuguese coach's requests, Mourinho would now have extra players capable of shaping the course of the season.