The six players Jose Mourinho considers the ‘core’ of his project – report

The six players Jose Mourinho considers the ‘core’ of his project – report Arriving as Real Madrid’s new manager, Jose Mourinho was always going to shake up Real Madrid’s pecking order across all departments. The experienced manager, after all, has all the backing he can ask for from the club president Florentino Perez and has even been handed a free hand in taking transfer decisions. All that has been asked of him is to restore order in Real Madrid’s dressing room and bring the team back to winning titles, and Mourinho has been working on finding the best working combination on that front. Six pillars of the team As reported by Diario AS in a recent report, six Real Madrid players are guaranteed to start under Jose Mourinho next season. The manager rates their profiles highly and sees them as a ‘core’ of his project. The first name is Thibaut Courtois in goal, and unsurprisingly so given how the player has been ever so reliable despite being at the twilight of his career. He will continue to start in goal without any doubt. Cucurella will be a starter in his first season at Real Madrid. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) In defence, the only guaranteed starter is Marc Cucurella , the new left-back Real Madrid signed this summer. The player has had a stunning World Cup campaign and will replace Alvaro Carreras as the team’s first-choice left-back. Two midfielders are guaranteed starters – Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde . While the former is expected to play in an advanced attacking midfield role as he did in the World Cup, the Uruguayan will be deeper seated. Finally, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. are both assured a place in the team’s starting XI at centre-forward and left-wing respectively, and understandably so. A phased return for the starters Unfortunately for Mourinho, a sizeable chunk of his ‘core’ players will be unavailable for most of pre-season, implying that he will have to directly count on the players for the beginning of the season without much preparation. Valverde will be the first of ‘the six’ to return to Madrid. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) Valverde will be the first to return to pre-season from the aforementioned list given Uruguay’s group stage elimination, and he could well return by next week. Vinicius Jr. and the Brazilian contingent will return to training at the end of the month, and Thibaut Courtois likely a week later given that Belgium progressed until the quarterfinal. Mbappe, Bellingham and Cucurella, however, will only return just before the new season as they still have games to play in the competition. While France and England will play for third place later today, Cucurella will play the final against Argentina tomorrow.