Kolkata : Real Madrid have officially confirmed the return of Jose Mourinho as Head Coach.
The 63-year-old has agreed a three-year deal and will begin work when the squad return for pre-season training on 13 July.
Real Madrid have paid Benfica £13m (15m euros) in compensation to bring the Portuguese head coach back to the Bernabeu – some 13 years after his first stint at the club came to an end.
Earlier, Florentino Perez had vowed to reappoint Mourinho as head coach if re-elected as club president earlier this month. His win Mourinho who led Porto and Inter Milan to Champions League titles to rejoin Real Madrid who have won that competition a record 15 times. Perez signalled a desire to bring back the intensity, discipline and winning mentality many supporters associate with the manager’s first spell.
Mourinho’s previous spell in Madrid, which began in 2010 and lasted three seasons, yielded a La Liga title, a Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup and reaching three consecutive Champions League semi-finals.
For many Madrid fans, those years represented the foundation upon which the club’s later European dominance was built. He also ended dominance of FC Barcelona under Pep Guardiola.
He has since taken charge of Premier League clubs Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur and had stints at Roma, Fenerbahce and Benfica.
During the only season of what was his second stint at Benfica, Mourinho led the two-time European Cup winners to an unbeaten Liga Portugal campaign, though it was only enough to secure a third-place finish.
Earlier this week, Benfica agreed a deal to appoint former Fulham manager Marco Silva as Mourinho’s replacement.
Mourinho, meanwhile, heads back to Real Madrid with the club having failed to win a trophy in the past two seasons.
They parted ways with Xabi Alonso in January before Alvaro Arbeloa led them through to the end of the campaign.
Real Madrid’s decision to bring Mourinho back comes after difficult years that saw the club fail to add major silverware despite possessing one of the most talented squads in world football.
