A reply that sounded a lot like a warning
Jose Mourinho faced the press on Monday morning, on the eve of Real Madrid’s trip to Elche. The Aurelien Tchouameni question came up fast. The France midfielder, hurt against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, had only just come back from a previous muscle problem. And Zinedine Zidane names his first France squad in a few days.
“I don’t know what Zidane has in mind for him. You have to respect his decision,” the Portuguese said. Then he sharpened it: “I don’t know what is best for him either: playing with four players and four others from Castilla, or with the national team. The ideal would be the national team, but with controlled minutes, without piling up the workload. That could make his muscle problems worse.”
Neat wording. Mourinho asks for nothing in public, yet he has drawn the medical line before the list even drops.
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Madrid are level at the top and short in midfield
Real are coming off a comfortable 4-1 win over Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night, a result that pulled them level with Barcelona at the top of LaLiga. That was the match where Tchouameni picked up the knock.
The midfielder, signed from Monaco in 2022, fills a role Mourinho has already struggled to cover this season. The head coach went without his whole first-choice midfield when Inter visited in the Champions League in early September. If Tchouameni misses several weeks, the rotation takes another hit just as the schedule thickens.
Which explains the caution. A muscle relapse rarely costs a week. It costs a month.
The ball is in Zidane’s court
“I haven’t spoken to Zidane, but he’s a man full of common sense. He’ll do what’s best for him. Let him help the national team without hurting the player’s future. I’m convinced Zidane will get it right,” Mourinho said.
So the new France boss has a call to make in his very first squad: a club protecting its midfielder, a national team that needs continuity. Not the kind of thing you settle over the phone.
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