Two games, two wins, six goals scored and a Santiago Bernabeu that has already fallen back in love with its manager. On the surface, Jose Mourinho‘s Real Madrid return could hardly be going better. Underneath it, the Portuguese has been running two very different man-management projects: one built around Vinicius Junior, and a quite different one for Kylian Mbappe.
According to journalist Abraham Romero at Defensa Central, as relayed by Madrid Universal, Mourinho has taken a far more hands-on approach with Vinicius Junior than with Mbappe since walking back through the door at Valdebebas. Several private, one-to-one conversations with the Brazilian. None judged necessary with the Frenchman.
Why Mourinho gives Vinicius Junior the private conversations
The logic is not hard to follow. Vinicius has spent the past year carrying more noise than any player at the club: questions about his form, about his emotional reactions on the pitch, about his future. Mourinho, per the report, spoke to him repeatedly before the renewal was signed, making clear that he wanted him to stay and that he remained central to the project.
Those talks were not chalkboard sessions. The stated aim was to rebuild confidence, set out expectations plainly and help Vinicius take back control of his own situation — the sort of work that does not show up in a statistic but tends to show up in a player’s body language around the 70th minute.
Madridistas have seen this film before. It is the same instinct that, by several accounts, helped push the Vinicius renewal through to 2032, and the same protectiveness behind Mourinho’s public line about the treatment his winger receives from opponents and officials.
Mbappe does not need the arm around the shoulder
With Mbappe, the relationship is described as altogether more straightforward. The two speak normally in training and around matchdays, but there has been no big set-piece conversation designed to convince or redirect him. The reading inside the club is that Mbappe came back from the World Cup with more authority and more certainty about his role than ever, and that his form has removed any need for intervention.
It is difficult to argue with. Mbappe took the Real Sociedad game apart with a hat-trick on Wednesday and has now scored in each of Madrid’s opening two league fixtures. A manager does not sit that player down for a heart-to-heart. He gets out of the way.
The front three is already talking
The most encouraging part of the 4-1 win over Real Sociedad was that both approaches appear to be working at once. As Marca noted, Jude Bellingham was the only one of Mourinho’s front-line starters not to score and was arguably the best player on the pitch, laying on two assists — one to put Madrid 2-1 ahead, another for Vinicius. The Brazilian then returned the favour by slipping Mbappe in for the fourth.
That is the connection Madrid have been waiting two seasons to see hum. It is also why the differentiated handling matters: the tactical work of getting his two superstars to press only lands if the personal work has been done first.
Now for the part Mourinho actually wants fixed
None of which means he is satisfied. Marca report that the defensive side of the game is now his primary focus. Madrid have conceded once against Espanyol and once against Real Sociedad, and it is the timing that irritates him more than the number — both goals arrived shortly after Los Blancos had gone in front. Real Sociedad still managed 10 attempts at the Bernabeu, three of them on target, in a game they lost by three goals.
Mourinho wants the whole team defending, forwards included, and that brings the two threads together neatly. The private conversations with Vinicius were never only about goals and confidence. Sooner or later, they become conversations about the yards he runs the other way.
Reported claims about Mourinho’s private conversations originate with Defensa Central and have not been confirmed by Real Madrid.
