Alvaro Arbeloa has reportedly made a bold decision that could be the biggest indicator yet that he will be Real Madrid's manager beyond this season. The Spaniard replaced Xabi Alonso last week and was believed to have been handed the job until the summer.
That might not be the case though given Arbeloa has made a call that impact Madrid's long-term future. He has now spent over a week assessing the squad at his disposal and might be preparing the club for their expected rebuild.
Several players' futures are uncertain especially those whose contracts expire in June. Although there has been a positive response to the Supercopa de Espana final loss to Barcelona and the Copa del Rey exit against Albacete, there are one or two members of the squad that could be offloaded.
Arbeloa shows who's boss with massive call
Arbeloa hasn't even been given the opportunity to see Trent Alexander-Arnold in action due to the English right-back sitting on the sidelines with a muscle problem. It's been a really frustrating debut season for the player who joined from Liverpool last summer.
According to El Nacional, Arbeloa has advised Alexander-Arnold to leave Madrid for his own good. He is not part of the team's plans moving forward and his contributions offensively and defensively are deemed "not good enough".
It's a shocking development if true because the 27-year-old has only appeared 11 times across competitions this season. How can he be judged on such little game time and when he was signed he was regarded as an excellent acquistion due to his playmaking abilities.
Alexander-Arnold has been linked with German giants Bayern Munich while a return to the Premier League is also a possibility. There looks to be every chance that Arbeloa decides to offload the Englishman who was Alonso's first signing.
Trent looks to be playing for his Madrid future
There were many who envisioned Alexander-Arnold becoming Dani Cavajal's long-term replacement at right-back for Madrid. The club's scouts knew what they were getting when they pursued the former Liverpool vice-captain for many months ahead of his contract expiring.
It would be awfully embarrassing for the recruitment staff if Los Blancos give up on the England international before he's even spent a year at the Estadio Bernabeu. While he hasn't lived up to expectations, he hasn't been poor when playing and using 11 games to make a decision seems absurd.
Alexander-Arnold is now under pressure to prove his worth and will need to convince Arbeloa that he deserves to stay in the Spanish capital. He is expected to be available from next week and that will surely indicate whether such a meeting and conversation between the player and manager truly took place.