Jurgen Klopp turns down Real Madrid - is finding a new manager going to be harder than they expected?
Klopp doesn't want the Real Madrid job, but who else could they turn to after sacking Alonso?
Jurgen Klopp is reportedly not interested in the Real Madrid job despite emerging as one of their top candidates to replace Xabi Alonso.
Alonso was sacked yesterday by Real Madrid after an unconvincing start to life with Los Blancos, culminating in the 3-2 defeat to bitter rivals Barcelona in the final of the Supercopa de Espana.
Klopp has been out of the management game since stepping down as Liverpool boss at the end of the 2023/24 season, instead moving into an executive role with the Red Bull group.
The German tactician did a great job at Anfield and could surely be ideal for Madrid, but it seems he really meant it when he said he might well be retiring from management for good.
Where do Real Madrid find their next Carlo Ancelotti?
Alonso looked like a great fit for Real, perhaps giving them their own answer to what Pep Guardiola was for Barcelona over a decade ago now - one of their former players returning to take the club into a new era with an ambitious and distinctive playing style.
It didn’t work out, however, and it highlights once again that Real and Barca are two very different clubs.
Madrid are not guided by one overarching philosophy like Barcelona are since the Johan Cruyff era - the manager at the Bernabeu simply needs to manage the club’s superstar egos and deliver trophies.
Unfortunately, finding a new manager is not something as simple and straightforward that can be resolved with a gift voucher for Amazon, especially in the modern era where someone like Carlo Ancelotti is a dying breed.
The legendary Italian tactician did great work with Madrid in two spells, and perhaps he’ll be one they could look at again once his time with the Brazilian national team comes to an end after the 2026 World Cup in the summer.
However, he can’t go on forever and there just isn’t an obvious young Ancelotti out there who could bring something similar to Los Blancos right now.
Klopp might be the closest thing, but he’s not available, and even if he were, it still seems slightly like a move away from the the kind of figurehead that Ancelotti was. This is still someone whose philosophy the players would need to adjust to; someone who’d insist on Galacticos like Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior contributing to the team’s pressing game.
Do Real Madrid need to move into the modern era?
It’s too late for Alonso now, but is it time for Real Madrid to accept that the game is changing, and start to change with it?
Head coaches are much more the norm now than managers, and there’s more emphasis than ever on the team and its structure over any individuals.
The days of just putting together the world’s best players and hoping for the best are surely over, as we’re seeing even at other clubs who spend big money on their signings.
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have the resources to rival Real Madrid, but over time they’ve moved away from simply signing the biggest names. It’s telling that PSG finally won the Champions League after the era of having Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar up front.
Florentino Perez has a big decision to make, but will he be bold enough to neglect the Madrid way of old and help the club adapt to the football of the future?