Mourinho s pressure? Galatasaray holds 10 power forwards, how does Fenerbahce play?

The popularity of the Turkish Premier League this summer has caught up with the top five European leagues, especially after Galatasaray officially announced the signing of German winger Sane, this "no smoke of gunpowder" arms race has completely heated up. Originally, Galatasaray was strong and his lineup was as domineering as Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1. At the beginning of this summer window, he strengthened his arch-rivals Fenerbahce, due to his tight budget, still has not strengthened Mourinho's lineup. Has the "Mr.'s Two-Year Law" expired?

The most important signings in the Turkish Super League so far are naturally former Schalke 04, Manchester City and Bayern winger Sane, who will wear red and yellow shirts to compete in the Turkish Super League in the new season! Sane's joining is not only a "star effect" in the simple sense, but also makes Galatasaray's forward reserves reach a "overcrowded" position. Including Sane, the number of forward players under Brooke once again reached double digits, with a total of 10 forwards in charge of a team. This is not only rare in the history of the Turkish Super League, but even the top European giants rarely have such a configuration of hoarding forwards.

Looking back on the past year, Galatasaray's forward has been dynamically adjusting. In the winter window of 2025, they let go of veterans such as Bashuai, Ziyeh, and Zaha, and then introduced Kutuju and Morata. They thought the team would streamline the lineup, but they did not expect that Sane pushed the front line to an "overflow" state again.

Last season, they relied on the rotation of multiple forwards with full firepower to overwhelm Fenerbahce to win the league championship. Now, they seem to want to go further: not only to defend their title, but also to create some storm on the European war stage. In contrast, Mourinho's Fenerbahce makes people feel like a "no money" wealthy family. In the 2024/25 season, although the club invested up to 60 million euros for signings, the effect was not ideal: 11 signings were more about "pile-up" rather than "summarizing the key".

The direct match against Galatasaray in three games of the season, Fenerbahce did not win in one game, and in the end all four major players were gone. The departure of Tadic and Dzeko made the team's forward line stretched. Mourinho named it and hoped to introduce Maeda Daran and Vlahovic to supplement the offensive line, but the club's senior management obviously did not reach a real consensus with Mourinho in terms of budget, trust and execution.

Mourinho has encountered a situation where "the top leaders are not strong", but the problem is that this time he is facing the strongest version of Galatasaray in the history of the Turkish Super League: the front line resources are rich, the depth of the bench is exaggerated, and the defense is also continuing to strengthen, while Fenerbahce is still having a headache for a center who can play for 90 minutes. If the signing of the support is not followed up in time, Fenerbahce's golden window period for the "Mujib two-year" will probably be wasted.

Mourinho knew the iron rule of "determining the country in the second year", and he was not idle either. Since the end of the season, Mourinho has been frequently interviewed by the media, constantly emphasizing that "the team needs more support", and even rarely named senior executives "don't be knocked down by the pressure in front of them." This series of actions, which are regarded by the outside world as his usual public opinion war strategy, shifts pressure to the club management and forces the transfer to execute.

However, objectively speaking, the tactical discipline and competition temperament that Mourinho injected into Fenerbahce have begun to show results. Although he has not won the championship this past season, his overall defensive structure, game execution and game aura have been significantly improved. As long as Mourinho can be given a decent starter, it is no empty talk to compete for the championship.

Talisca can take half of the country, but it is by no means a long-term solution. Mourinho has never played a "small battle", but in a league like the Turkish Super League, where the pace of competition and frequency of confrontation is extremely high, if there is no qualified forward rotation, any tactic will eventually be "a skillful woman can't cook without rice." Mourinho is waiting for a chance to play at the "call table". What he wants is not a 10 Power Forward, but he needs at least two aces that can be played, rather than a temporary solution to make up the pot repeatedly.