Mourinho presses his mission to bring in Maicon

Real Madrid has still not opened talks with Maicon, whose signing is looking more unlikely by the day, and there are no signs of anything changing at the Bernabéu. The timing of the deal and the indecision amongst the ranks at Madrid have tipped the scales in the favour of Chelsea, who has already agreed terms with the Inter star, Marca reported.

Mourinho is continuing to press his mission to bring in Maicon to provide competition at right-back for Arbeloa, but he is fighting a lone battle within the club. The Real Madrid hierarchy does not believe Operation Maicon makes financial sense, which explains the club’s failure to make its move in spite of the Portuguese manager’s insistence that the Brazilian is the ideal man to challenge Arbeloa for the right-back berth.