Don't look for ulterior motives in Real Madrid's decision to let Dani Carvajal join Bayer Leverkusen. The reason is simple. It’s simply a question of height - Mou wants at least three of his four defenders to be a certain size.

That is the only way to defend well against set pieces and headed goals, one of the club's Achilles' heels during the two seasons that Mourinho has been in charge at the Bernabeu. Solving this problem involves having a tall, strong defence.

José Mourinho knows that he can't give up both his right and left-backs. Currently, the left-back position is covered by Marcelo, a player a little over 1.70m tall. Even Coentrao, at almost 1.80m, isn't a player who stands out for his height or his strength when defending against set pieces.

For this reason, Mourinho can't allow the same to happen at right-back. This was the main reason for Dani Carvajal's departure and the subsequent search for a right-back of a certain height, as is the case of the player being touted the most during this pre-season as a possible Madrid signing: Maicon.