"I'm not thinking about any of that at all," Alvaro Arbeloa said on Wednesday night when asked whether he wanted to keep his job. That's the kind of answer that tells you everything. A manager secure in his position doesn't deflect like that.
Real Madrid lost 4-3 to Bayern Munich on the night and 6-4 on aggregate, and the elimination confirms what most inside the Bernabeu already suspected: this season is over, and so is Arbeloa's time as head coach. The general view within the club is that he'll see out the remaining weeks — there's no logic in changing now with nothing left to play for — but he won't be returning next season.
A Fragile Appointment From the Start
Arbeloa was only brought in as Xabi Alonso's replacement in January, handed his first senior management role after a stint with the reserve team. The club didn't even specify the length of his contract in the announcement. That's not oversight — that's a signal. He was always a short-term fix with good dressing-room credentials, not a long-term project.
To his credit, sources indicate he improved the atmosphere in the squad. But improved morale doesn't survive a Copa del Rey exit to second-division Albacete in your first game, and it doesn't survive a Champions League capitulation in Munich.
Madrid are now almost certain to end 2024-25 without a major trophy — the second consecutive season they've done so. The last time that happened was 16 years ago. Under Florentino Perez, only one manager who finished trophyless was kept on for the following year: Zidane. Arbeloa is no Zidane.
The Problems Run Much Deeper Than the Manager
Coaching changes at Madrid are routine. What's different this time is the scale of dysfunction surrounding the club. Multiple sources paint a picture of an institution that needs rebuilding at almost every level.
Arbeloa's two predecessors both left believing the squad was fundamentally imbalanced. Sources close to Ancelotti's former staff said after the January sacking that they saw "no solution right now" and that one major star would need to be sold to fund reinforcements — specifically at right-back, centre-back, right wing, and central midfield. Sources close to Alonso went further, stating plainly that this squad is "impossible to coach", with players holding too much power and too little appetite to improve.
That's not a manager problem. That's a structural one.
Then there's the medical situation, which has been a slow-burning crisis since 2023. In March, The Athletic reported that the medical team performed an MRI scan on the wrong leg when diagnosing Kylian Mbappe's knee injury in December — an error that delayed his recovery. Physical trainer Antonio Pintus, a Perez loyalist, has been at the centre of persistent disagreements over the injury epidemic. A Croatian doctor who was sidelined in 2023 amid those same tensions was only reinstated days before Alonso was fired. The dysfunction here has outlasted two managers already.
- The coaching staff is expected to change, with Arbeloa likely gone by the end of the season
- A director of football role — currently held in name only by Santiago Solari with minimal power — may be genuinely filled for the first time
- The medical department faces scrutiny following a string of mismanaged injuries
- Recruitment decisions, currently shared between Perez, general director Jose Angel Sanchez and chief scout Juni Calafat, may be restructured
- Potential outside investment in the club, floated by Perez last November, has stalled without meaningful progress
As for the next manager, Jurgen Klopp keeps being mentioned and keeps publicly denying it — he and his agent have both confirmed there has been no contact and he's committed to his Red Bull role. Zidane is admired by Perez but appears more interested in the France job after the World Cup. Didier Deschamps, whose French contract expires in July, has been floated by at least one industry source. Mauricio Pochettino — whose US contract ends post-World Cup — is considered a genuine candidate, described as highly regarded by Perez, and was spotted in Madrid last month watching Spurs play Atletico.
A training ground source last week described "confusion among the staff" due to "rumours that there are going to be a lot of changes" — the board, the coach, the medical team, the physios, the players. That covers pretty much everyone. Madrid's next manager won't just be inheriting a squad that's underperformed. They'll be walking into an institution mid-renovation, with the blueprints still being argued over.
