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After three successful years as manager of Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane left Los Blancos last summer after proving to the world that he is as good a manager as he was a player. The Frenchman's departure was followed with that of Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Juventus, and this left Florentino Perez with a huge hole to fill at Madrid.
With the way things have shaped up for Madrid so far this season, it's fair to say Perez has made mistakes after mistakes and will have to make some key changes over the summer to rectify these mistakes.
Los Blancos have set a number of unwanted records this season. Their loss against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League was the first time they lost home and away in the Champions League group stage. Their 3-0 loss at home was also their biggest home defeat at home in European competition. The Spanish giants have already lost six games in the La Liga this season, which is the total number of games they lost in the league last season.
Things seem to be getting worse with every passing game for the Spanish club, and it could get worse as the season progresses. But why have things gone so utterly wrong for the 13-time Champions League winners and where did they lose the plot?
It all started with Real Madrid appointing Julen Lopetegui. It was still early June, and Perez rushed to appoint someone, and he could have definitely waited for some more time to find a more suitable option. Also, Lopetegui was clearly the wrong choice, and everyone knew it. The Spaniard had managed Rayo Vallecano for less than a year and Porto for two years and did not have any real managerial credentials to take charge of a club the size of Real Madrid.
He had won no major trophies with any of his previous clubs, and during his time at Bernabeu, he won just six of the 14 games he managed and had a win percentage of just 42.86%. This is the worst win percentage a Madrid manager has had since Alfredo Di Stefano did in the 1990-91 season during his second managerial stint at Real Madrid.
More importantly, it was utterly wrong on his part and the club's to appoint him while he was on duty with Spain in Russia at the World Cup. If Perez had only waited a little bit longer as assessed his options better, he could have indeed found a more suitable option. Managers like Arsene Wenger, Laurent Blanc, Antonio Conte and Leonardo Jardim would have all been better choices.
While Santiago Solari has steadied the ship for the moment, he is still not the answer to Madrid's problems. The Argentine just has a 37.21 win percentage with Real Madrid Castilla and does not have any relevant experience managing the first team at any club and will be under a lot of pressure to finish the season strong. Los Blancos are currently 5th in La Liga, and things only seem to be getting worse.
Cristiano Ronaldo leaving for Juventus was the biggest news coming out of Madrid this summer. While everyone expected Perez to find a direct replacement for the Portuguese, that never happened. This was another huge mistake Real Madrid made over the summer.
A player of Ronaldo's calibre is not easy to replace and finding a similar player was never going to happen. But signing a player who could play similarly and step up and take over from one of the greatest footballers in the world was something Real Madrid had to do.
They did sign Mariano from Lyon and Vinicius Junior, who is considered the next Brazilian star, in the hopes they could develop and take over the gap left by Ronaldo. While that was never going to happen this season, the likes of Isco, Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale were all expected to step up to take the spotlight, but all of them have been way below par.
Florentino Perez and the all the Madrid players said that their team the last few seasons was more than just Cristiano Ronaldo. But with the way their season has gone so far it is clear that the Portuguese's departure has massively hurt the squad in terms of their confidence, their style of play and the team morale.
The signings that they have made including Alvaro Odriozola, Andriy Lunin and most recently Brahim Diaz will help them in the long run. But unless they appoint a top-class manager who knows how to work with a club the stature of Real Madrid and sign a direct replacement for Ronaldo they will never be the same.
