Real Madrid: Ranking the three candidates to replace Zinedine Zidane

When rumors started to bubble on Friday that Zinedine Zidane would indeed leave Real Madrid upon the conclusion of the 2020-2021 season, no Madridistas wanted to believe what they were reading. Even though it made sense, given the whispers that Zidane was growing weary of the job’s stress, nobody wanted to face the thought of the beloved manager stepping aside after everything he’s done for this club. He has been needed.

But it looks like the rumors are true. Goal.com’s Mario Cortegana, Onda Cero’s Fernando Burgos, and others are reporting that Zinedine Zidane has told Real Madrid players that he will be stepping down when the season ends. He is worn out.

Cortegana reports that Max Allegri, Joachim Low, and Raul are the main candidates to replace Zidane, which is not a list that comes out of nowhere.

Who is the best to hire? Who is the worst of the three for Real Madrid from that list? Let’s rank them.

3. Joachim Low

When Joachim Low was linked to Real Madrid a couple of months ago, I was absolutely perplexed and did not see the logic in Los Blancos wanting Low. It seemed more like Low was interested in Real than the club being interested in him, but, apparently, he actually is on Real’s shortlist of Zidane replacements.

Low did some great things with the German national team in the past. We can’t forget that. But now, Low seems to be out of ideas, and the game has seemingly passed him by. Maybe he’ll prove people like me wrong, but do Real Madrid really want to take a risk on a guy whose recent resume is so poor? And it’s not like he’s competed at a high level in the club game, which is significantly different from the international game, especially when you factor in the nuances that come with coaching a club like Real Madrid.

Hard pass.