Mourinho is setting his hierarchy

José Mourinho’s experimental phase is slowly coming to an end. LaLiga is about to begin, Real Madrid’s squad is overloaded with quality, and that means somebody eventually has to sit down.

Right now, Eduardo Camavinga appears to be one of the players in danger of losing ground.

According to Javi Herráez of Cadena SER, Mourinho already has a clearly defined group of players whose positions look particularly strong ahead of Madrid’s first league game. Courtois remains the undisputed goalkeeper, Cucurella, Huijsen and Konaté are highly rated in defence, while Vinícius, Diomande and Mbappé appear extremely difficult to remove from the attacking setup.

Midfield is a completely different story.

Mourinho has Valverde, Tchouaméni, Bellingham, Güler, Bernardo Silva and Camavinga competing for limited places. And according to Cadena SER, it is the Frenchman whose position currently appears to be weakening.

This is not exactly the first warning sign.

Earlier in August, Camavinga’s preseason performances were criticised heavily on Cadena SER. AS journalist Carlos Forjanes questioned his confidence and his reliability in possession after Mourinho had been using him in a deeper midfield role.

Since then, the competition has only increased.

Bernardo Silva has already been tested in the double pivot, Güler is receiving more responsibility in buildup, Tchouaméni offers defensive security and Valverde remains one of the most versatile players in the squad. Against Deportivo, Bernardo even started alongside Camavinga as Mourinho continued experimenting with different midfield combinations.

That creates a strange problem for Camavinga.

For years, his versatility was one of his greatest strengths. Now Madrid have so many different midfield profiles that simply being able to play everywhere may no longer guarantee regular minutes.

Mourinho does not necessarily need to find a place for Camavinga anymore.

Camavinga has to convince Mourinho why that place should belong to him.

And with this Real Madrid squad, the bench could become one of the most expensive places in European football.