Mourinho: I Don't Want Endrick to Leave, Here's the Situation with Tchouaméni

Real Madrid's coach José Mourinho appeared at a press conference ahead of tomorrow's match against Real Sociedad, a postponed fixture from the first round of La Liga, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

The coach spoke about relying on Federico Valverde more in playmaking with Aurélien Tchouaméni absent: "I don't like it, but sometimes other coaches have to use him as a right-back or on the right wing or as a number 10. He can play there, but he's a midfielder; it depends on the match and our goals, whether we want to be more centralized or more dynamic."

Regarding Tchouaméni's condition: "He hasn't suffered a setback. He struggled a lot during the World Cup. When you have to play while injured at the end of the season, and you're thinking about having a break afterward, you take risks. He did that and missed two matches. The problem is that the break wasn't enough. He tried, but we decided not to start the season while he's suffering. You can finish the season that way, but you can't start August while you're in pain. We decided to wait until he returns at 100%. We'll wait a week or two, or however long he needs."

He added: "Can Esbi and Mbappé play together? We started the preparation period with Endrick, while Esbi is a different type of player. Against Espanyol, Mbappé was trying to do individual work, and I thought Carlos could give us something different."

Regarding playing four matches in 12 days: "I thank La Liga for the common sense in delaying the start of the season by an additional week for clubs with a large number of players participating in the World Cup. If we had played against Real Sociedad two weeks ago, it would have been a problem, as the World Cup players wouldn't have had enough rest. Now we have a backlog of matches due to something positive; after that, professional teams have to play three matches a week, and they have to play. If the data or the player's feeling says he can't play, then another player will play."

In his comments about Endrick, he stated: "Endrick is suffering from a minor tendon injury, and we are doing this as a precautionary measure to avoid a bigger problem. I love him very much. There have been a lot of inquiries about him, but I do not want to sell or loan him out; he has great talent."