Real Madrid's €260m Mourinho Rebuild

Real Madrid have spent around €260m (£223m; $300m) this summer rebuilding the squad, according to The Athletic, in the club's biggest transfer outlay since 2019.

The spree follows two seasons without a major trophy, a run Madrid last endured in 2009-10. That April, as a decisive Clasico defeat would have handed Barcelona the La Liga title outright, president Florentino Perez had already settled on Mourinho as his choice. The 63-year-old Portuguese was appointed on 11 June, with Madrid paying Benfica €15m to release him from his contract there.

Perez set the strategy alongside general manager Jose Angel Sanchez and chief scout Juni Calafat, and Mourinho was given a closer role in recruitment than previous Madrid coaches have had.

The signings included Ibrahima Konate, centre-back, free transfer from Liverpool; Bernardo Silva, midfielder, free transfer from Manchester City; Marc Cucurella, from Chelsea, in a package worth up to €60m; Denzel Dumfries, right-back, from Inter for €20m (£21.6m; $29.1m); Carlos Espi, striker, from Levante for €25m (£21m; $29m); and Yan Diomande, winger, from RB Leipzig in a deal that could reach a club-record €140m.

The Diomande fee, if the add-ons are met, would surpass any transfer previously paid by Madrid. Konate and Bernardo Silva arrived without a fee attached, freeing funds for the moves in for Cucurella, Dumfries, Espi and Diomande.