Real Madrid have an unofficial policy at the club. If you don't win any titles in a season, you are done. That happened to Zinedine Zidane in 2020/21. He left on his own terms. It happened again to Carlo Ancelotti in the 2024/25 season, and he was fired. These are the two greatest modern managers in Real Madrid history, and even they could not overcome this unwritten rule that Florentino Perez has when determining his managerial cycles.
Alvaro Arbeloa only just took the Real Madrid job as an emergency replacement for Xabi Alonso, who could not handle the heat of Madrid and was jettisoned out after mere months. It was harsh on Alonso, of course, who was amazing at Bayer Leverkusen and was crucified by Perez's latest disaster signing, Kylian Mbappe, whose destabilization of the locker room is creating a cloud over the club.
By the logic of the unwritten rule, Arbeloa has to leave Real Madrid. And based on his tearful press conference after the Champions League elimination loss to Bayern Munich, the Spanish international knows his days may be numbered. Real Madrid are looking at the biggest names in coaching to replace Arbeloa, including former manager Jose Mourinho and even Jurgen Klopp, though he seems more interested in the Germany job.
The players want Arbeloa to stay
But people shouldn't totally write off Alvaro Arbeloa just yet. Even though the odds are long and Florentino will probably can his young manager, he has important backing that could be enough to pull for him to stay. The Real Madrid locker room is, unsurprisingly, in love with their humble interim manager, who is a player's coach in the vein of Carlo Ancelotti, Zinedine Zidane, Vicente del Bosque, and all the other most successful Real Madrid managers.
According to a report from Mario Cortegana of The Athletic, players in the Real Madrid locker room are rallying behind Arbeloa and making it even more clear to the board that the want the former Madrid right back to stay. The players are fully behind Arbeloa, and even players he has had some friction with and who he has benched, specifically veteran Dani Carvajal, are speaking out to everyone behind closed doors with praise for Arbeloa.
Arbeloa is going to do his best to make sure Real Madrid finish this season strong, even though they are out of all the tournaments and are probably too far behind Barcelona to mount a comeback in La Liga. But there is a lot of pride to play for, including Arbeloa's last shot at keeping his job.
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