Xabi Alonso has made public his official exit from Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the season. With that accomplished, he is poised to become Real Madrid's next manager if Carlo Ancelotti leaves soon.
However, the Spanish manager could be suffering the same issue as former Real Madrid managers.
According to Relevo, at a meeting with Real Madrid's transfer executives, Xabi Alonso mentioned many transfer targets that he wanted for Madrid. The club responded by stating that, while his demands will be considered, the final decision on new additions rests exclusively with the club's senior management.
According to the story, Real Madrid's top management, which includes Florentino Perez and his board, has reserved the entire right to consider signings and make final decisions.
Though Xabi mentioned Martin Zubimendi among others, the player is nowhere affiliated with Real Madrid and is currently not being evaluated.
Xabi faces the same problem that made Zinedine Zidane leave Real Madrid
Zinedine Zidane returned to Real Madrid in 2019 for the second time, but he did not remain long. He resigned from his position in 2021 and published an open letter detailing his side of the incident.
He stated in the letter that he quit because the club no longer provided him the confidence he need and did not support him in building something for the long run.
He also expressed regret that his relationship with Florentino Perez had turned out the way it did.
This is the same dilemma that Xabi is being drawn into. The club denies the manager a significant amount of control over the future structure of the team. This happened not only with Zidane, but also with Carlo Ancelotti recently.
According to reports, the Italian manager constantly requested a larger and better team of tactical analysts from the club's management, but the club consistently declined.
This brings to mind another story that is diametrically opposed to Real Madrid's. In stark contrast to this situation, Jose Mourinho once recounted what he informed then-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich about his desire for Didier Drogba.
The Russian owner, when asked for the signing, asked Mourinho, "Who is he? Where is he playing?". To this, Mourinho replied, "Mr Abramovich – pay. Pay, and don’t speak."
Of course, I do not intend to completely undermine Real Madrid's authority in this way, but delegation of some control or a stronger voice for the manager is vitally important. You cannot expect a man to open a lock if you keep the keys with yourself.