Mourinho gives Perez a 10-point demand list as Real Madrid's bid to replace Arbeloa picks up speed
Florentino Perez has put a manager's job on the table and Jose Mourinho has answered with a list. Real Madrid have offered the 63-year-old the role currently held on an interim basis by Alvaro Arbeloa, with talks running through agent Jorge Mendes, and the response coming back from Lisbon is that Mourinho will only return if the club accepts a 10-point demand block in full.
This is what the reports describe as an all-or-nothing position. No item is negotiable on its own. Either Real Madrid sign off on every line, or the project does not happen.
Inside the 10-point block
The non-negotiables run from contract length to dressing-room control. A minimum two-year deal. Full sporting authority over the squad. A direct line into the medical department after a season of soft-tissue injuries that has bothered Mourinho from the outside looking in. Disciplinary control inside the dressing room. The right to bring his own coaching staff, although he is reportedly happy to keep Arbeloa around the structure if the wider terms land. The one staff name that has to go is fitness coach Antonio Pintus.
The list went directly to Perez in a video call with Mendes on the line. The president is expected to come back with a yes or no inside the next week.
How Real Madrid got here
The chair has not been settled since Xabi Alonso was let go on 12 January after a 3-2 Spanish Super Cup defeat to Barcelona in Jeddah the day before. Alonso had been in charge for less than a year of the three-year deal he signed to replace Carlo Ancelotti. Real Madrid moved him on by mutual consent, then promoted Arbeloa from the Castilla bench rather than chasing a senior hire mid-season.
Arbeloa's run has not steadied the year. Madrid have just watched Barcelona seal back-to-back La Liga titles at Camp Nou, and the board is treating the summer as the chance to draw a line. Perez has retained a good relationship with Mourinho from his first Bernabeu spell between 2010 and 2013, and the search has narrowed to the Portuguese coach in a way it did not when Alonso first went.
Benfica are not getting in the way
Mourinho only joined Benfica on 18 September 2025 on a two-year deal, his first managerial role back in Portugal after 21 years away. The clause structure in that contract gives him a window to leave once their season ends with the Estoril Praia match on 16 May. Benfica are not blocking him. The compensation owed if he walks is reported at €6 million, which would not derail a deal at this scale.
Publicly, Mourinho is still doing the routine. He told reporters this week that there has been no direct contact between him and Real Madrid and that he is avoiding it. Mendes is the channel that matters and the channel is open.
What Perez has to weigh
Saying yes to the full block is not a small concession. It hands a returning coach control over signings, departures, the medical setup and the dressing room before he has set foot back in Valdebebas. Saying no means going into the summer with Arbeloa as the permanent hire or starting the search again with the field already narrowed by Perez's own preference.
A response is due next week. Either way, the man who left in 2013 has put Real Madrid in a position where they decide on his terms or not at all.
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