A project with Mbappé at the centre

Real Madrid’s next version is beginning to take shape, and Kylian Mbappé is expected to be the centre of it.

According to Peter Smith in Sky Sports’ analysis of José Mourinho’s Real Madrid priorities, one of Mourinho’s biggest tasks is finding a formula that allows Madrid to get the best out of Mbappé while also turning his numbers into trophies.

That distinction matters. Mbappé has not failed individually. Sky Sports notes that he has scored 86 goals across his first two seasons at the club. The problem is that those goals have so far brought only the European Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, while Madrid have gone two seasons without a major trophy.

For Mourinho, the challenge is therefore not simply to make Mbappé score. It is to build a team structure in which his goals become the foundation of a winning side.

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More space, less time as a pure number nine

As reported by Sergio López de Vicente in AS’ article on Madrid’s “ecosystem” for Mbappé, the club’s plan is to make the Frenchman the “axis” of the project. The idea is to create an environment that allows him to receive more often outside the penalty area, with space to run into and room to shoot from the edge of the box.

That would mark a subtle but important change. Rather than using Mbappé mainly as a fixed number nine, Madrid want him in positions where his acceleration and finishing can be used more naturally.

Mourinho is reportedly considering his familiar 4-2-3-1 shape. In that setup, Vinícius Júnior could start from a slightly deeper role, while Jude Bellingham may play higher and offer presence in the box when Mbappé moves away from the central striker zone.

The aim is not to reduce Mbappé’s influence. It is to give him more ways to hurt opponents.

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Mbappé accepts he must improve without the ball

The plan also requires something from Mbappé himself. His defensive work and commitment without the ball have been questioned in Madrid, and the French forward has now acknowledged that he has to improve in that area.

“I have to take a step forward in defence. I have always been demanding with myself and I think I have to improve in that aspect. It is important for the team and I am going to do it, starting with this World Cup,” Mbappé said.

That admission is important for Mourinho. His best teams have usually been built on collective discipline, compactness and a shared defensive responsibility. If Mbappé is to be the face of Madrid’s new project, he also has to fit into that collective demand.

It is one thing to build around a superstar. It is another to make sure the superstar helps hold the structure together.

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Signings with a sporting and personal logic

Madrid’s summer business also appears to fit the wider Mbappé plan.

AS describes the arrivals of Ibrahima Konaté and Bernardo Silva as part of an environment that can support him on and off the pitch. Konaté is a France teammate, while Bernardo has known Mbappé since their time together at Monaco.

Denzel Dumfries is also mentioned as another player with a strong relationship around the France camp, partly through his connection with Marcus Thuram. The point is not only tactical. Madrid appear to be creating a dressing-room structure in which Mbappé feels supported, understood and central.

That does not mean the squad is finished. Madrid are still expected to look for at least one more centre-back and a midfielder, with Enzo Fernández and Matheus Fernandes among the names linked to the middle of the pitch.

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A huge season for Mourinho and Mbappé

The pressure is obvious. Madrid are not building around a young prospect. They are building around one of the defining players of his generation, at a club where individual brilliance is judged by collective success.

Mbappé has already delivered goals. Now Madrid need him to deliver titles.

For Mourinho, this is one of the central questions of his return to the Bernabéu. Can he unite a squad full of major personalities, restore Madrid’s edge and turn Mbappé from a statistical force into the leader of a winning system?

The answer will define far more than Madrid’s tactics. It may define the second Mourinho era.

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