Real Madrid's Final Pre-Season Test Against Schalke 04
Real Madrid head to Germany on Sunday for their final dress rehearsal of the summer, and it comes with more questions than answers.
Mourinho’s side face Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen on August 16, their last pre-season outing before La Liga begins on August 22 with a trip to Espanyol in Barcelona. The clock is ticking, and this is the final chance to test ideas under real pressure.
Mourinho’s new Madrid takes shape
On Sunday, the spotlight will fall on the new faces. Yan Diomande, Marc Cucurella and Ibrahima Konate are all available and all still waiting for their Real Madrid debuts. Germany could be their first real step into Mourinho’s Madrid.
Kylian Mbappe is the other headline name. Back in training this week after his World Cup break, the French forward could make his first appearance under the Portuguese coach in Gelsenkirchen. If he plays, even for a few minutes, the tone of Madrid’s summer changes instantly.
Bellingham and Tchouameni: the big doubts
The intrigue doesn’t stop there. The major uncertainties revolve around Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni.
Bellingham rejoined group training on Wednesday. Mourinho must now decide if the England international is ready to be thrown straight into a matchday squad or kept back for Espanyol. His role is already mapped out: restored to his natural habitat as an attacking midfielder, operating just off the centre-forward, the position in which he exerts the most damage.
Tchouameni finds himself in a similar limbo. The French midfielder is recovering from a minor muscular issue and is expected to be fit for the league opener, but his involvement against Schalke is still up in the air. When fully ready, he will be fighting for a place in a fiercely competitive double pivot, going up against Federico Valverde, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga.
Both Bellingham and Tchouameni are central to Mourinho’s long-term blueprint. For now, though, their status for Sunday is one big “wait and see”.
Injury list grows, six to stay home
Some decisions have already been made for Mourinho. Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo, Thiago Pitarch and Eder Militao will not travel. All five remain in Madrid as they continue their injury recoveries.
They will be joined by Endrick. The Brazilian has suffered a muscle overload and is expected to miss the Schalke clash as well, another attacking option removed from the equation just days before the season starts.
Mourinho will be desperate to have Endrick, Bellingham and Tchouameni all available for Espanyol. The opening day in Barcelona suddenly feels like it will arrive very quickly.
A historic summer exodus in La Fabrica
While the first team fine-tune in Germany, the academy at Valdebebas is living through a very different kind of summer.
Real Madrid’s youth system has seen a mass exodus, a stream of departures that shows no sign of slowing. The next big one could be Jacobo Ortega, who is close to a move to Strasbourg. If completed, it would make him the most expensive sale of a Real Madrid youth player who has yet to debut with the first team.
And he is not expected to be the last.
Manuel Angel and David Jimenez set to move on
According to AS, Manuel Angel and David Jimenez are also on the verge of leaving, both effectively reaching the end of their cycles with Castilla.
Interest in the pair is broad, stretching across the top flight, the second division and beyond. Nothing is advanced enough yet to close a deal, but the direction of travel is clear.
The club has already started to protect their futures. Both players have been training separately and have been left out of Castilla’s pre-season friendlies and matchday squads, a deliberate choice to avoid injuries that could complicate negotiations.
Once Ortega’s transfer and other academy exits are taken into account, Real Madrid’s income from La Fabrica this summer is set to surpass €200 million. Inside the club, the window is being described as historic. The numbers explain why.
Two pillars of a golden generation
Manuel Angel and David Jimenez are not just any academy players. They were central pieces in Alvaro Arbeloa’s treble-winning youth side, a group that also included Nico Paz and Gonzalo Garcia.
Manuel Angel, 22, is a cerebral midfielder who joined La Fabrica in 2014 and has long been viewed as one of the standout talents at Valdebebas. Comfortable with both feet and calm in possession, he even broke into the first team towards the end of last season, making seven appearances. The next step is obvious: he needs a club that can offer him regular minutes at senior level.
David Jimenez is cut from a different cloth but just as highly rated. An attacking full-back with one of the best right feet in the academy, he has been praised for his leadership and aggressive, forward-thinking style, earning comparisons to Dani Carvajal. He, too, featured for the first team last season, catching the eye under both Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa.
For both players, the equation is simple now. They have outgrown Castilla. Real Madrid, their agents and the players themselves are all waiting for the right proposal.
As Mourinho’s Madrid chases sharpness in Gelsenkirchen and prepares for Espanyol, the club is reshaping its future in the background. The first team is being rebuilt at the top. La Fabrica is being cashed in at the base. How quickly those two movements align will define what this season really becomes.
