After last year's great success, Real Madrid were not as good as people expected, despite adding arguably the best player in the world to their attack in Kylian Mbappé. They are second in the league behind Barcelona and have flirted with failing to qualify for the next round of the Champions League.
With no end in sight to this misfortune any time soon, Real Madrid's board is slowly looking for a replacement for Carlo Ancelotti, both in the long and short term. This page looks at all potential candidates who could take a place at the largest club in the world.
As a former Real Madrid player, Xabi Alonso would be a good choice as he understands the club as a whole and the passion that comes with playing for Madrid. However, his career as a manager makes him the best candidate as he has been one of the best managers in the world since taking over from Bayer Leverkusen.
In his first full season with Leverkusen they lost one match all season, won the league unbeaten and won the DFB Pokal. Their only defeat came in the Europa League final and this came as a shock to many as they were clear favorites when people looked at the best football odds today, but Atalanta beat them in every sense of the word.
Despite the loss, Leverkusen still went from a team struggling in the relegation zone to one of the best teams in the world and as a young manager with connections to the club, Alonso is the ideal replacement.
Raul is a Real Madrid legend and is newer to management than some Madrid fans might like. However, if we think that Alonso or Mikel Arteta (who we will mention later) are the long-term replacements, Raul is the ideal short-term replacement.
Currently, Raul manages Real Madrid Castilla, the reserve team, and we are not going to pretend that they are the best team in the league. Or that Raul is like Pep Guardiola, and he joined the reserves and turned them into the best team in the league. However, they are still good enough and Raul is showing some signs of being a manager who could one day be very good.
While this may seem like a crazy statement, if Madrid are looking for a long-term replacement, Zidane could be a great short-term replacement until the end of the season. He knows how to get the best out of players, he knows the club and has had experience with Madrid in one of their most successful periods. Since leaving Madrid, Zidane has been out of a job and the short stint at Madrid could help him regain his love for management.
As current Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has given the club a massive rebuild and with good financial backing he has shown what he can do as a manager of a big team. Despite his lack of trophy success to date, Arteta has changed Arsenal in many ways and he has done so by implementing a style that is fun to watch.
As Real Madrid manager, Arteta would receive a lot of support in every possible way and he would be able to manage a Madrid team that clearly lacks motivation under Ancelotti.
Of the four we've mentioned, we think Arteta is the least likely because we don't think he would leave Arsenal having just signed a contract and before winning another trophy. But if he were manager of Madrid at some point in his career, we wouldn't be so shocked.
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