Former Liverpool FC defender Jamie Carragher has described Jose Mourinho’s reported return to Real Madrid as a “strange” decision.
The comments come amid growing reports that Mourinho is set for a sensational comeback to the Santiago Bernabeu, years after his first spell in charge of the Spanish giants.
Carragher acknowledged Mourinho’s elite pedigree and success across Europe but questioned whether the Portuguese manager is still the ideal figure to rebuild a modern dressing room.
“He’s managed some of the greatest football clubs in the world and has made a success of it. Whether he is the right man to fix a dressing room, I don’t know,” Carragher said.
The former England international believes the potential appointment also reflects the current shortage of elite managerial options available at the highest level of European football.
“It’s a strange one, but it tells you where the world is in terms of big name managers of the past. For Real Madrid to go back to Jose Mourinho tells you there’s not that quality out there.”
Carragher also highlighted Real Madrid’s demanding managerial culture, where long-term plans often collapse quickly if major trophies are not delivered.
“When Real Madrid appoint managers, they don’t do it the way we do in this country. The vision is for them to be here for three or four years. It doesn’t always work out like that, but that is the idea.”
The pundit added that the pressure surrounding the Madrid job means managerial cycles inevitably repeat themselves over time.
“Unless Real Madrid win the league or the Champions League, we always know that it is going to be a year. It changes that often that it is bound to come back round to the same people again.”
Mourinho previously managed Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013, winning a La Liga title, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup during his time in the Spanish capital.
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