Jose Mourinho’s Plan for Arda Güler: The New Özil

At Valdebebas, the plan is starting to take shape. Jose Mourinho is back, Kylian Mbappe is in white, and Real Madrid are preparing to dust off an old weapon that once terrorised Europe: the ruthless transition game of the Bernabeu.

At the heart of it, Mourinho wants a creator. Not just any creator, but one who can knit together the chaos of counters and the precision of final passes. In Madrid, that role used to belong to Mesut Özil. Now, the focus is on Arda Güler.

Mbappe as Ronaldo, Güler as Özil

Spanish reports outline a clear blueprint. Mbappe will operate in the same corridor of power where Cristiano Ronaldo once ruled, attacking space, driving at back lines, finishing moves with that familiar inevitability.

Behind him, between the lines, Güler is being groomed for the Özil role: the man who sees the gap before it opens, who slides the ball into impossible channels, who turns defence into a chance with a single touch.

Inside the club, the comparison has been growing for months. It has followed Güler ever since his €30 million switch from Fenerbahce in the summer of 2023. The parallels with Özil are not just lazy headlines. Both share Turkish roots, both built their reputations on progressive passing, sharp vision in tight pockets and the knack for dismantling deep defensive blocks with one decisive ball.

The idea is simple, and familiar. Madrid break. Mbappe runs. Güler finds him.

Mourinho Returns to a Familiar Template

That Mourinho is the architect only fuels the narrative. The 63-year-old was the coach who squeezed every last drop out of Özil in his first spell at Real Madrid, turning the German playmaker into the most feared assist machine in Europe.

Güler arrives at this moment with a different profile from the raw youngster who first walked into the Spanish capital. He has broadened his game, even if a permanent starting spot has remained elusive. Used on the right wing, drifting into the right half-space, and even dropping deep to help in the build-up, he has shown the tactical flexibility modern Madrid demands.

But flexibility is not what Mourinho is chasing now. He wants clarity. He wants a specialist in combination play and creativity, someone who can connect with Mbappe at speed and with precision, someone who can give structure to the chaos of transition.

According to Mundo Deportivo, the Portuguese coach is working intensely on the squad’s structure, and Güler is central to those internal discussions. Whether the full plan has already been formally presented behind closed doors is not yet clear, but the direction is.

The label has already landed: “Mesut Özil 2.0.”

A Rare Pre-Season Window

Timing, for once, is on Mourinho’s side. Güler’s international summer ended early with Turkey’s premature World Cup exit, sparing him the fatigue and disruption of a long tournament run.

For Madrid, that matters. For Mourinho, it is gold.

He now has an extended pre-season window to work with Güler daily, to drill movements, angles, triggers. Where to stand when Madrid win the ball. How quickly to find Mbappe’s first step. When to hold, when to risk the killer pass. These weeks will not just shape match fitness; they will define a role.

For Güler, this is the opening he has been waiting for. No more cameos on the flank, no more patchwork minutes across different zones. Mourinho’s project offers him the chance to claim a clearly defined, leading position in the system — the playmaker in a team built to strike in transition.

The coming friendlies and training sessions will act as Mourinho’s laboratory. He will test whether this “Özil 2.0” mould really fits, whether Güler can carry the creative weight that comes with orchestrating Madrid’s attack at full speed.

The midfielder has already shown flashes that he possesses the natural qualities for it. Now the question is no longer whether he resembles Özil. It is whether, under Mourinho and alongside Mbappe, he can turn that resemblance into something that defines the next era at the Bernabeu.