Jose Mourinho's Blueprint for Arda Güler: The Next Mesut Özil?

The Bernabéu has seen this movie before. A superstar left-sided finisher given the keys to transition attacks, and a gifted playmaker threading passes through impossibly tight gaps. Back then it was Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Özil. Now, Real Madrid are quietly sketching out a sequel: Kylian Mbappé and Arda Güler.

Spanish sports daily reports from Madrid say Jose Mourinho wants to revive the old Real Madrid transition game that once tore La Liga apart. The idea is simple, and ruthless. Mbappé will occupy the Ronaldo role, the devastating runner and finisher on the left. Güler, at 21, is being groomed for the Özil brief: the connector, the schemer, the man who sees the pass a fraction of a second before anyone else.

Inside the club, that comparison is no longer just a media invention. The view is clear: if anyone in this squad can assume Özil’s responsibilities between the lines, it is Güler.

The Özil shadow has followed him from the moment he arrived. When Madrid paid €30 million to prise him from Fenerbahce in the summer of 2023, the narrative wrote itself. Both are of Turkish heritage. Both specialise in progressive passing, in slipping balls through packed defences, in finding space where there shouldn’t be any. Both can turn a deep-lying block into a broken dam with one decisive touch.

The numbers and labels are one thing. The coach is another.

Mourinho’s return to the Real Madrid dugout has given the comparison fresh weight. It was the 63-year-old Portuguese who elevated Özil into one of Europe’s most feared creators during his first spell in the Spanish capital, building a transition machine that blended structure with freedom in the final third. He knows exactly what that profile can do when the pieces around it are aligned.

Güler, for now, has been a luxury piece in a squad full of them. Since landing in Madrid, he has been shuffled across roles: starting on the right wing, drifting into the right half-space, even dropping deeper to help in the early build-up. Those assignments have showcased his tactical intelligence and willingness to adapt, but not yet given him a permanent home.

Mourinho wants to change that.

His plan, as outlined in Spain, is to centre Güler in a system built around combination play and creativity. Not just a wide option. Not just a rotational piece. A fulcrum. The newspaper describes the project as “Mesut Özil 2.0” – an updated version of the old formula, this time geared towards Mbappé’s explosive movement and Real Madrid’s stacked attacking options.

The timing could hardly be better for the player.

Turkey’s early exit from World Cup qualifying duties means Güler reports back to Valdebebas without the fatigue or emotional drag of a long international campaign. For Mourinho, that is gold. It hands him something elite coaches rarely enjoy at this level: uninterrupted weeks on the training ground with a key creative talent before the competitive fixtures hit.

Those sessions will be decisive.

Pre-season, in Mourinho’s eyes, becomes a laboratory. Can Güler consistently find Mbappé in stride the way Özil once did with Ronaldo? Can he dictate the tempo of counter-attacks, choose when to accelerate and when to pause? Can he shoulder the responsibility of being the main reference point between midfield and attack, rather than a complementary option?

The club already knows he has flashed those qualities. Güler has shown glimpses – the disguised passes, the awareness in tight pockets, the courage to try the ball that breaks a low block instead of recycling sideways. What he has lacked is a clearly defined, protected role in which those strengths are not just allowed but demanded.

Now, for the first time since he arrived in Madrid, that pathway is opening.

If Mourinho’s blueprint holds, Güler is no longer just a promising talent in a crowded squad. He is the man asked to bring an old idea back to life in a new era. The comparison with Özil will not go away. The question is whether he can turn it from a flattering label into a job description.