José Mourinho has been waiting all preseason to say this out loud. After the Fiorentina friendly, he let it slip: "The good ones are missing." After the Teresa Herrera match, he pointed toward Valdebebas, where five players were still working individually. Yesterday, for the first time, he had everyone. Now the real work begins.
The system Mourinho is building centres on four players who, between them, command a €590 million market valuation according to Transfermarkt: Kylian Mbappé (€200m), Jude Bellingham (€160m), Vinicius Jr. (€140m), and Lamine Diomande (€90m). What makes that figure genuinely striking is what Madrid actually paid — Mbappé's estimated €40m signing bonus, €125m for Diomande, €45m for Vinicius, and €103m for Bellingham. That's roughly €313m before add-ons. A portfolio now worth nearly double what it cost to build.
121 goals, and room to grow
The production numbers from last season are difficult to argue with. Mbappé: 42 goals, 7 assists. Vinicius: 22 goals, 14 assists. Diomande: 13 goals, 10 assists. Bellingham: 8 goals and 5 assists — in what he and everyone at Madrid will acknowledge was an injury-disrupted campaign far below his 23-goal debut season under Ancelotti.
Combined: 121 goals. And that's with Bellingham operating well below his ceiling.
Mourinho's preferred setup is a 4-2-3-1, with Mbappé as the centre-forward, Bellingham at No. 10, and Vinicius and Diomande on the flanks. It keeps Bellingham close to goal and away from the defensive duties that would dilute his attacking impact. Any shift to a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 would push him deeper — and Madrid's goal output would almost certainly suffer for it.
How Madrid's front line compares to Europe's best
Context matters here. Looking only at the front three — Mbappé, Vinicius, and Diomande — their combined 77 goals and 31 assists from last season actually trails two other European attacks. Bayern's trio of Kane, Luis Díaz, and Olise produced 109 goals and 61 assists. Barcelona's Ferran Torres, Raphinha, and Lamine Yamal combined for 85 goals and 33 assists.
But neither Bayern nor Barcelona has a Bellingham operating behind their front three. That's the structural advantage Madrid are betting on — and it's why their attacking odds across LaLiga and the Champions League this season deserve serious attention from anyone pricing up title markets.
The other elite trios for comparison:
- Haaland, Doku, Semenyo (Man City): 57 goals, 26 assists
- Kvaratskhelia, Dembélé, Doué (Napoli): 52 goals, 33 assists
- Gyökeres, Martinelli, Saka (Arsenal): 43 goals, 19 assists
Gelsenkirchen against Schalke next Sunday is pencilled in as the quartet's likely first start together — a low-stakes audition before LaLiga opens against Espanyol on August 22. Mourinho has waited all summer for this. The rest of Europe probably shouldn't enjoy the wait much longer either.
