Jose Mourinho to assess young attacking duo before making final decision

Real Madrid’s new manager, Jose Mourinho, is ruthlessly modifying the dressing room to his liking with little to no mercy on existing players.

The manager has already overseen wholesale changes in defence, and the midfield is being linked with big signings as well.

Logically, the next step is for him and the club to identify players to sell to balance the books. The likes of Ferland Mendy, Eduardo Camavinga, Fran Garcia, Gonzalo Garcia, and even Brahim Diaz have been linked with exits on that front.

Two conditional situations

As reported by Rodra recently, Jose Mourinho has identified two young Real Madrid stars whom he does not want to immediately sell.

He has placed their futures in a ‘conditional’ bracket and will take a call after getting a closer look at what they have to offer.

Gonzalo Garcia is the second player Mourinho wants to test. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

The two names Mourinho sees in this way are Gonzalo Garcia and Franco Mastantuono, both of whom spent last season in the first team with limited prominence.

As matters stand, the coach wants both players to stay in Madrid and begin preseason with him next month. He will only decide on their future after watching them in action firsthand.

Critical competition

While both Gonzalo and Mastantuono are young and promising, Jose Mourinho clearly has options in higher priority for both positions that the players represent.

Gonzalo, who is a natural striker, must directly compete with Kylian Mbappe who is the team’s de facto striker, and Endrick, who is returning from loan and has reportedly impressed the manager.

Will Mourinho keep the two youngsters next season? (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Mastantuono, meanwhile, now faces competition from Real Madrid’s new signing Bernardo Silva who is expected to be a regular starter for the club on the right wing.

Both players, thus, must not only consider the manager’s decision but also their own lack of minutes if they stay at the club before deciding their future.

Neither star is on display at the ongoing FIFA World Cup for their respective nations and will thus be in action for Mourinho only when preseason begins.

Their futures will likely be decided towards the end of July.