Real Madrid: Pitarch’s reset points to Villarreal call-up

Thiago Pitarch has gone 73 days without a first-team minute for Real Madrid, a run that ended during this month’s international break.

José Mourinho used the pause to watch him closely, and the Spanish coach now wants him in the squad for Villarreal’s visit to the Santiago Bernabéu, according to Goal.

The Pitarch reset, as Goal describes it, appears to have taken shape quietly.

Mourinho struck a temporary deal with his coaching staff, clearing Pitarch to play twice for Castilla and once for Spain’s Under-20s before this weekend’s return to league action.

Thiago Pitarch’s reset: how it happened

An injury is the root cause. It cost Pitarch his pre-season and delayed his return to full training.

He was short of match sharpness long after he was finally fit again.

Real Madrid’s form has not always convinced this season, and the numbers behind the slump in recent weeks have given Mourinho extra reason to search the squad for fresh legs.

Goal reports that Mourinho built the arrangement with Real Madrid’s staff to loosen those restrictions rather than abandon the project.

That shift, set out in our full report on the reset, gave Pitarch a route back through the club’s junior sides instead of a place on the first-team bench.

For Castilla, Pitarch created a goal in the win over Sant Andreu, then played an assured, composed game against Alcorcón.

Goal says both displays caught the eye of senior staff, who had watched his first-team chances dry up for two and a half months.

Real Madrid then worked with the Spanish Football Federation so Pitarch could join Spain’s Under-20s for the break, a group he already knew well.

López de Lerma, who coaches that Spain Under-20s side, pointed to the mental side of the recovery as much as the football.

Quoted by Goal’s report on Pitarch, he said: “Thiago manages himself, and he has returned with the same passion and enthusiasm that I knew in him from his youth days.

“Despite the difficulty of recovering from the injury that deprived him of the pre-season period, he has shown huge improvement in understanding the dimensions of the game and applying the attacking side close to the penalty area.”

Mourinho sees technical readiness

Mourinho’s conviction did not come from highlights alone. He watched last month’s derby from the stands at the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium, the game we covered in our derby defeat report.

There, he assessed Pitarch in a competitive setting away from the senior squad’s spotlight.

He came away convinced of the midfielder’s technical and physical readiness, exactly what the Pitarch reset was designed to prove.

It also explains why Mourinho pushed to keep Pitarch at the club in the summer.

Goal reports he cancelled an imminent move to Fulham rather than sanction a loan away from Valdebebas, a stance that has shaped the club’s patience with him ever since.

Follow all the latest: Football live: Premier League 2026/27 news, transfers and updates.