After the hot start to life under Xabi Alonso, the club has seemingly come to a screeching halt. Real have only one win in their last six and have seen their form more or less fall off a cliff. This has left many fans as well as people within the club scratching their heads as to what comes next for Los Blancos.
After only grabbing one win in their last six, and after this past weekend's embarrassing 2-0 home loss to Celta Vigo, rumors have been swirling surrounding the future of Xabi Alonso at Real Madrid. Many believe that if Real don't win against Manchester City this week, Xabi Alonso could already be sacked by Los Blancos.
While sacking Xabi Alonso may be a knee-jerk reaction, Real Madrid isn't prone to making those kinds of decisions with managers, and the Spaniard could, unfortunately, be the next to fall. If he were to get sacked, many are questioning who the club would bring in during the middle of the season. Here are three options that would be the most logical for Real Madrid.
3 logical replacements for Xabi Alonso at Real Madrid
1. Zinedine Zidane
Let's get the obvious choice out of the way, Zinedine Zidane. Not only a legendary player for Real Madrid but also a legendary manager, the Frenchman has had two previous stints in charge of Real Madrid, achieving unbelievable success. With both his stints in charge, he happened to take over during the middle of a season, both in 2015 and then again in 2019, so he is no stranger to the current situation Los Blancos are facing.
While all fans would welcome Zidane back, whether or not the Frenchman would be open to taking the job is a different story. It is widely believed that Zidane has been waiting to take over at the French National Team once Didier Deschamps leaves after the World Cup this coming summer.
2. Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has been a name that has long been linked with Real Madrid, but never amounted to anything. Many believed he could have been an option before Carlo Ancelotti returned to the club in 2021, as well as an option this summer instead of Xabi Alonso, but Real ultimately decided on the Spaniard.
The German is now the Head of Global Soccer for the Red Bull sports group and is said to be extremely happy in his current role, and is not looking to return to managerial work at the moment. However, we all know the pulling power that Real Madrid has and when the phone rings, it is a hard call to turn down.
3. Alvaro Arbeloa
And the final option would be the easiest for Los Blancos, and that is Alvaro Arbeloa. The former player is currently the Castilla manager, taking over from Raul and would be a quick in-house promotion to try and fix the issues Real are facing at the moment.
Since taking over in May of this year, he has a 53% win rate in his time with Castilla and has them currently sitting fourth in the Primera Federacion. While promoting Arbeloa would be the easiest move, whether or not he would have the respect of the players is another question.
We've all read the rumors that some in the locker room lack respect towards Xabi Alonso, who was a legend of a generation, so why would it be different towards Arbeloa?
While yes, the recent results have been poor, sacking Xabi Alonso this early into his managerial career at Real Madrid would be a massive mistake. New managers take time to fully implement their system with a new team, and there are bound to be bumps in the road before everything works like a charm.