Real Madrid go into next season without a contracted first-team coach, with current Carlo Ancelotti’s contract expiring at the end of this season.
The general feeling is that this will be his last season at the Santiago Bernabeu, leading to widespread speculation about his replacement.
After the arrival of Julian Nagelsmann as head of the German team, Raul Gonzalez, the coach of Real Madrid Castilla, found himself on the list of candidates, but another former football legend, Xabi Alonso, quickly found itself at the top of this list. Since taking the reins at Bayer Leverkusen last year, the Basque coach has enjoyed a meteoric rise, going from penultimate to first place in the Bundesliga in the space of 12 months.
The quality of his football and the speed of his rise were such that Alonso quickly became one of the most prominent executives in Europe. Sporting director Simon Rolfes says the club is preparing for next season with Alonso and that the latter is focusing on his work at Die Werkself, but SDZ says he also has contingency plans in place.
Clubs like Liverpool and Real Madrid are likely to call on him for help if they have a vacancy. Alonso has a release clause of between 15 and 18 million euros to leave Leverkusen. This is a colossal release clause, the likes of which we rarely see for a coach.
Yet with the focus increasingly shifting to coaches rather than players, it would not be surprising if such clauses become commonplace for top coaches and those moving up the ranks, as clubs like Leverkusen look to to protect yourself.
