The Special One Returns: Jose Mourinho Heads Back to Real Madrid

No matter how many times football seems to have moved on without Jose Mourinho, he has a habit of walking back through a door that most assumed had been shut.

This time, the door belongs to Real Madrid, and it is worth asking whether nostalgia, desperation, or genuine conviction has pushed Florentino Perez to turn the key.

Transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano reported on Monday that a full agreement has been reached between Mourinho and Real Madrid. The 63-year-old will return to the club he called home from 2010 to 2013 next season, bringing an end to his current stint with Benfica.

He will sign a two-year contract to become manager of the Merengues for a second time, with an official announcement expected next week, after Real Madrid's final La Liga match of the season against Athletic Club at the Bernabeu on Saturday evening.

Mourinho steps into a dugout left vacant by Alvaro Arbeloa, who had taken temporary charge in January following Xabi Alonso's departure.

With 15 wins, two draws, and eight defeats, Arbeloa failed to impress Perez and the Real Madrid board. The nadir came at the weekend, when Los Blancos suffered a 2-0 defeat to Barcelona, a result that handed their rivals the La Liga title on a plate.

The path to Mourinho's return runs through a contractual clause in his Benfica deal, which permits either party to terminate the agreement within ten days of the conclusion of Liga Portugal for a fee of approximately three million euros.

Real Madrid are understood to be invoking precisely that clause. Mourinho himself has acknowledged that he will use this window to reflect on his future, and has confirmed that a renewal offer from Benfica remains on the table.

Should the move be confirmed, it will draw the curtain on his second spell at the Lisbon club.

After a brief first stint covering 11 matches in the 2000/01 season, the man who is famously called the "Special One" returned to Benfica in September to replace Bruno Lage.

Across 45 games, he recorded 27 wins, but the campaign ultimately ended in disappointment, with the team finishing third in the league and missing out on Champions League qualification.

They were also knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Taca de Portugal, fell in the semi-finals of the Taca da Liga, and exited the Champions League in the playoff round — against Real Madrid, of all opponents.

Perez, ever the optimist when it comes to grand gestures, is hopeful that Mourinho's return will help restore the ultimate success to the Bernabeu.

During his first spell in Madrid, Mourinho delivered the La Liga title, the Copa del Rey, and the Supercopa de Espana. He was, by all accounts, the number one choice to take charge of the club once again.

But the Mourinho who arrives this summer will inherit a club in considerable disarray. Real Madrid will finish the season as runners-up in Spain, having also lost the Super Cup, been knocked out in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, and exited the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.

The season has been further complicated by a series of dressing room conflicts that have unsettled the squad.

Whether the "Special One" can once again work his particular brand of magic at the Santiago Bernabeu is the question that will define the next chapter of both his career and the club's ambitions.