Xabi Alonso and Real Madrid — they have seemed destined for each other since the former Liverpool, Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder began his coaching career in Madrid’s youth ranks seven years ago.
How that happens is another question.
Carlo Ancelotti renewed his deal as Madrid’s head coach at the end of 2023 until 2026 and is very happy in the Spanish capital. He has led Madrid to 10 titles, including two Champions Leagues, since his return for a second spell in charge in 2021 and is the coach with the most trophies (15) in the club’s history.
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Alonso, meanwhile, has enjoyed great success since he was appointed to his first senior management role at Bayer Leverkusen in October 2022 — leading them to their first Bundesliga title last year, along with the German Cup and German Supercup, and taking them to the final of the Europa League, where they suffered their only defeat of the season across all competitions against Italian side Atalanta.
Multiple reports have linked Alonso with a move back to the Bernabeu as head coach. Ancelotti laughed when asked about the most recent story in January, which suggested he had decided to leave at the end of this season regardless of results, referring to president Florentino Perez’s re-election.
“I want to be very clear: the departure date of this club is never going to be decided by me in my life,” the 65-year-old Italian said.”I have the advantage that Florentino will stay for four more years and I have the objective of reaching them with him. We can say goodbye together.”
Even so, multiple people have told The Athletic that Alonso has been earmarked to be Ancelotti’s eventual replacement — although there are several complicating factors.
Here, we explain what we are hearing, including…
- Talks between people representing Alonso and Madrid have happened this season and there is a possibility the Spaniard takes charge at the Bernabeu in the summer
- Ancelotti is aware of these conversations
- Winning the Champions League or La Liga could secure Ancelotti’s short-term future.
The Athletic spoke to sources at different levels at Madrid and close to Alonso. They all asked to remain anonymous in order to be able to speak freely. Madrid and Leverkusen declined to comment when approached by The Athletic.
The first thing to clarify is that Ancelotti genuinely wants to stay. His words above are not just public posturing, according to those closest to him.
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In Perez’s second spell as president, which began in 2009, he has kept coaches in place when they have won La Liga and/or the Champions League the previous season. He made an exception in 2023, as Ancelotti had only won the Copa del Rey (as well as the old-format, seven-team Club World Cup earlier that season). This paid off, as he duly delivered last season’s La Liga-Champions League double.
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But important voices at the club and those close to people at Madrid believe the 43-year-old Alonso — with his more modern and dynamic style — could get more out of the current squad and renew the team’s energy.
It remains to be seen if Perez would execute the coaching change and how he would explain it if Ancelotti were to have another good season.
Madrid are three points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona in third place with 12 games to go, are 1-0 up in their Copa del Rey semi-final tie against Real Sociedad with the home leg to come next month and lead 2-1 before the Champions League round-of-16 second leg away to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
Nobody imagines Ancelotti being sacked in the summer after winning La Liga or the Champions League again.
Perez congratulates Ancelotti after last year’s Champions League final (Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
Ancelotti’s entourage maintain that nobody at Madrid has told the Italian they are not planning for him to be in charge next season, but add that they know “something is moving” with Alonso. Ancelotti believes that an agent trusted by the club is in contact with Alonso’s representatives about making him Madrid’s next coach.
As the gossip swirls, Ancelotti and his staff are taking a philosophical approach to the whispers and information coming from the football industry and the media. They are focused on doing their jobs as well as possible and continuing to add trophies to the two they have already lifted this season, the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup (previously known as the Club World Cup).
It is the same approach they took months ago when it was leaked that Madrid’s director of football Santiago Solari would be ready to replace Ancelotti as the coach if results did not improve.
Different sources within the club and well connected to the board confirm Solari, also a former Madrid player, and not their Castilla reserve team’s coach and legendary former Madrid striker Raul, would be who the club turn to in a caretaker role if they need an emergency solution midway through the season.
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Solari started coaching Madrid’s Castilla side in 2016 and was promoted to the first team after Julen Lopetegui’s sacking in October 2018. The Argentinian, who won the Club World Cup during his brief reign, was sacked the following March but remained at the club in other roles. He later coached Mexico’s Club America, and in 2022 returned to the Bernabeu as director of football.
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The 48-year-old is a man Perez trusts, but it took a while to find his place and strike a balance between the first team, the academy, where he has experienced friction with director Manuel Fernandez, and the women’s side.
At the beginning, Ancelotti and his staff were wary of him, seeing him as too close to the president and as a possible replacement if anything happened. But Solari has been winning many people over and is becoming increasingly important. He is often present at important meetings with Ancelotti, the general manager Jose Angel Sanchez and chief scout Juni Calafat.
Madrid renewed Ancelotti’s contract in December 2023, a real show of confidence and gratitude in him, given it is extremely unusual for Perez to make decisions like that in the middle of a season. It also allowed the coach to reject a proposal from the Brazilian FA (CBF), who had strongly pushed to make him their next national-team coach.
In that extension until 2026, as The Athletic revealed at the time, it was also agreed that Ancelotti could stay on in a role other than head coach. Both Perez and Sanchez saw, and continue to see, him as a man of the club, someone who can add value in different areas.
That could be Ancelotti’s path if he is sacked as Madrid’s coach. Despite various reports linking him to jobs in Saudi Arabia’s Pro League, people with knowledge of the situation say it is not an option that particularly appeals to him and that he has certainly not made up his mind to go there.
Some sources suggest he is attracted to the idea of managing Canada, where his wife Mariann was born, with the World Cup that country is co-hosting with the United States and Mexico now little more than a year away. But Canada are anticipated to stay committed to Jesse March and are happy with him as their coach heading into that World Cup, despite Ancelotti’s interest.
Brazil may come calling again. Ancelotti is one of the names being considered by his friend, Ronaldo Nazario, to coach the national team if the former Madrid and Brazil striker wins the South American country’s FA elections. Ancelotti coached Ronaldo at Serie A club Milan in 2007 and 2008. Current CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues wanted to hire him in 2023, and Ancelotti has a close relationship with Madrid’s Brazilian players — Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Eder Militao and, to a lesser extent, Endrick.
Alonso played for Madrid from 2009-14 (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Madrid have long earmarked Alonso as Ancelotti’s successor, which influenced the former midfielder’s decision to stay at Leverkusen, where he is very much at home, despite interest from Bayern and Liverpool last summer, as reported by The Athletic.
Curiously, and despite great professional recognition and personal affection for Castilla coach Raul, most of Ancelotti’s staff think Alonso is the best choice the club could make to succeed him. This is based on his age, brand of football, knowledge of the club and experience at several of the biggest sides in Europe — in different countries and with top coaches — as a player. But they also point out that proving how good you are at the Bernabeu is a different matter.
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Alonso is represented by IDUB, the agency that manages the careers of other successful coaches such as Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola and Athletic Club’s Ernesto Valverde. They also manage Real Sociedad’s Spain international Martin Zubimendi. In January, The Athletic reported that Arsenal are pursuing a deal to sign the midfielder.
He also entrusts different deals, especially those related to marketing and media, to Best of You, an agency closely linked to Real Madrid. Its CEO, Oscar Ribot, who was involved in their signing of Kylian Mbappe as a blockbuster free agent last summer, is one of the people mediating between Madrid and Alonso.
People in these circles think there is a good chance Alonso could be Madrid’s head coach from next season. But there are question marks as to how Perez would go about this — and even if he would want to — if Ancelotti wins La Liga and/or the Champions League in the coming months.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
