Real Madrid has officially announced that it has mutually agreed with head coach Xabi Alonso to end his tenure at the club.
When Xabi Alonso arrived at the Valdebebas training ground last summer, he found that the club had granted him full autonomy to try to transplant the secrets of his success in the Bundesliga — leading Bayer Leverkusen to win the league title with an unbeaten run in the 2023-24 season — to Real Madrid.
At that time, following the departure of Carlo Ancelotti, the most decorated manager in the club’s history with 15 trophies, Real Madrid were deemed to be in need of a modern revamp.
Real Madrid’s sporting management had already taken a series of measures to strengthen the defense, signing Trent Alexander-Arnold (€10 million), Hugo Bueno (€58 million) and Álvaro Carreras (€50 million).
They also brought in Franco Mastantuono (€63 million), the highly-touted Argentine player who was expected to bolster midfield strength and enhance attacking firepower on the right flank.
But Alonso himself warned the club’s hierarchy back then that his plan lacked a player who could dictate play like Toni Kroos, admitting that the German midfield maestro was irreplaceable.
At Bayer Leverkusen, Granit Xhaka had excelled in that role. The Swiss player, a defensive midfielder who excels at organizing attacks from deep and launching efficient counterattacks with full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo, told the Bernabéu hierarchy that among all available targets, his top pick was Martin Zubimendi.
Relatively speaking, the transfer fee for this deal, which was between €60 million and €70 million, was considered acceptable. The problem was that Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal had already launched a pursuit of the San Sebastián native. Even so, the fact that the Basque manager’s agents had made contact with Zubimendi’s representatives opened the door for a potential move to Real Madrid.
The Spanish international waited for several days, firmly believing that joining Real Madrid under Alonso would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in his career.
Real Madrid hesitated, and by the time they started exploring the possibility of the transfer, it was already too late. They never made up their minds, and Arsenal eventually officially announced the signing two weeks later than expected.
Since then, Alonso has privately complained to his coaching staff that although they have four excellent players in Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham, the team lacks sufficient physicality to support his tactics, both in terms of deep-lying defense and creating chances after regaining possession.
He tried various approaches, but all ended in failure. In the process, his understanding of the game was gradually hindered. First and foremost, he believed that the high-pressing tactics were destined to fail because Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé were unwilling to perform the same role as Ousmane Dembélé did under Luis Enrique at Paris Saint-Germain.
