Jose Mourinho turned down a potential return to Real Madrid: Guillem Balague

Real Madrid’s only La Liga title in the last 7 years came under Jose Mourinho

Barcelona sealed the La Liga title with the 1-0 away win against Atletico Madrid last night. This title win is the Catalan side’s fifth league trophy in the last 7 seasons – the two Madrid teams are the only others to have won one title each during this period.

Thie title win also means that Real Madrid have won only the Club World Cup this season. They have also only secured the La Liga title only once in the last seven years despite incessant spending in the transfer market and access to some of the best talent the game has to offer.

Add to that the Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of Juventus and it has been another season that has borne little fruit for the Galacticos. It will cast doubts on Carlo Ancelotti’s position as manager of the club.

According to Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, Real Madrid drew up a list of potential replacements for the Italian as it is the norm after a season that does not produce the expected returns. He says this list contained the name of a manager who left them only in 2013 – Jose Mourinho.

“The idea is that Real now look for another coach – that is what normally happens when Real Madrid do not win,” he said.

“Real have spoken to Julen Lopetegui at Porto, to Jurgen Klopp, to Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho.

“They have already spoken to those four to see if they would be interested in coaching Real Madrid. They have spoken to Jose Mourinho - he said no to them, of course.

“Out of those four, Rafa is favoured by some but not others. Mourinho is favoured by some and not by others and Lopetegui is deemed as something for the future, but they have sounded out all of them.

“Klopp isn’t an automatic yes for the job, and it may be a little bit too early for Zinedine Zidane.

“There was a plan at the beginning of the season, but Real Madrid Castilla haven’t been doing too well so, again, there is doubt.”

He added that Carlo Ancelotti could also stay at the club but it would only be because Florentino Perez is not "in love with anybody". But Balague also indicated that the level of control that Ancelotti will be given if he stays could be reduced.

He said: "The problem Florentino Perez is facing is that he’s not in love with anybody.

“He was in love with Mourinho when he brought him to the club, and he has loved other appointments.

“However, at the moment, there is not a clear candidate to replace Ancelotti and he could stay.

“But if you tell Ancelotti, ‘you’re going to stay because there is nobody else,’ what does that tell you about his authority next season?”