The moment came in stoppage time. Kylian Mbappé peeled off the back line, took Arda Güler’s pass in stride and finished for his second of the night in Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabéu on 12 September, confirmed by ESPN in its match report. Güler had been on the pitch for only a cameo off the bench. At 21, it was already becoming a familiar sequence.
The Turkish playmaker has started the 2026-27 campaign as La Liga’s most productive creator by a wide margin. He has 24 chances created in the league and averages 9.5 chances per 90 minutes across a spell in which his minutes have not always been guaranteed, according to numbers highlighted by Madrid Universal.
Against Espanyol on 23 August, he produced more than five chances in 63 minutes, Yahoo Sports reported, citing StatMuse data that made him the first player to create five or more chances in a single game this season in Europe’s top five leagues.
Mourinho’s public backing
José Mourinho has been unusually direct about where he sees the Turkish midfielder fitting, in remarks carried by Managing Madrid in August.
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“I like Arda; I think he could follow a path similar to Luka and Bernardo, starting as a No. 10, an offensive player, and then shifting deeper.”
The reference points are Luka Modrić and Bernardo Silva, two players who drifted from advanced roles into midfield engines. Mourinho has also said he holds “a special place in my heart” for Güler, singling him out even as he manages a dressing room full of established names.
Five wins from six
Mourinho’s Real Madrid have opened the season with five wins from their first six matches, according to the club’s league record. That form has come with Güler either starting or entering games as a decisive substitute.
beIN Sports argued on 7 September that Güler is the biggest beneficiary of the coaching change, promoted from a rotational role under the previous regime to a fixture in Mourinho’s plans. His La Liga average rating this season sits at 8.1, per his FotMob player profile.
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The question Mourinho is now testing is whether Güler can sustain that output across full 90-minute performances rather than the shorter windows in which the numbers have piled up. The Portuguese manager, who returned to the club on a deal announced on 11 June, is treating that as a development question rather than a selection debate.
Madrid travel to Elche on Tuesday, 15 September, followed by the derby at the Metropolitano against Atlético Madrid on Sunday, 20 September.
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