The rot at Real Madrid is seeping into the very foundations of the renovated Santiago Bernabeu, placing a stain on the christened cathederal of football that threatens to carve it into a masoleum of a great club that once was. And all president Florentino Perez can do is unleash the termites from beneath as they accelerate the desecration of an institution of football that just two years ago seemed to be back on top without a peer in sight.
Real Madrid ran through Carlo Ancelotti with no remose at the end of the 2024/25 season, and then they cast Xabi Alonso aside, using the media to paint Vinicius Junior as the architect of his demise rather than being honest about the flaws in the squad, all the other miscreants in the locker room causing issues, and the poor construction of the team itself.
And now, Alvaro Arbeloa, Alonso's successor who also was a great youth coach and a key player for the club, is finding himself on the outs. Perez wants a bigger name, potentially Jose Mourinho or Jurgen Klopp, to take over for the manager. And although Arbeloa is highly popular with the players, including the same Vinicius who had a falling out with Alonso, that isn't actually universally true for everyone in the locker room.
Nobody can coach these players at Real Madrid
According to a report from ABC Deportes, as relayed by the Madrid Zone, Arbeloa is dealing with the same nonsense from a contingent of players in the locker room that Xabi Alonso had to navigate. Specifically, the Spanish quartet of Alvaro Carreras, Dani Carvajal, Dani Ceballos, and Raul Asencio are causing problems.
The issues with these four have been well documented in the media. Carvajal has been jealous of losing his place to Trent Alexander-Arnold, is moody on the bench instead of being a leader, and only cares about the fact that he has lost his place in the Spanish national team - and he blames his old mentor Arbeloa for this instead of being honest about the fact that he is finished at the highest level of football.
Asencio and Carreras are two young players with no discipline or sense, and Arbeloa had to bench them because they are not taking their football seriously. Ceballos has gone from hero to villain, overstaying his welcome and playing some of the most objectionably poor football in the midfield of anyone at a top club.
And yet, the ABC Deportes report goes on to say that Florentino Perez is lumping in Arbeloa and Alonso as two managers who cannot handle the locker room an that he wants to hire someone who can get along with the players.
But who can get along with players like these? Who would want to? Why pander to a group of underperforming players who fight with the coach and their teammates, complain and moan, never better themselves, and get away from criticism because the big name are their shields? Florentino is throwing his managers under the bus for the very termites eating away the wood from below.
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