5 reasons why Julen Lopetegui shouldn't have accepted the Real Madrid job

It is no longer news that Real Madrid has parted ways with Julen Lopetegui barely four months into his tenure.

The 53-year-old had been walking on tightropes ever since the middle of last month when the club began its struggles and struck the nail in his own coffin when Real Madrid got pummeled 5-1 by Barcelona in the Champions League.

Lopetegui is far from a world-class manager, and many around the world were surprised when he was named the successor to Zinedine Ziadane.

He was Spain national team manager at the time, and the announcement was done without reference to Spanish football authorities, leading to Lopetegui's dismissal as LA Furia Roja boss less than 48 hours to the commencement of the World Cup.

Prior to his appointment at Madrid, his biggest club job came in Portugal at Porto where he led the club for two underwhelming seasons despite his huge transfer budget.Lopetegui is yet to win a major managerial honor, and heading into the biggest coaching job in the world was an ill-advised move.

Here we present five reasons why Lopetegui should have rejected the Real Madrid offer in the first place:

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#5 He had a shot at World Cup glory with Spain

Lopetegui was a contender for the World Cup with Spain

After the highs of 2008-2012 where Spain were undeniably the best national team in the world and arguably of all time, the country hit all-time lows in the 2014 World Cup where their title defense went in shambles, as they exited at the group stage.

Two years later at the Euros, and they also underwhelmed, leading many to call it the end of an era and signal for the injection of new faces.

World Cup winner Vicente Del Bosque stepped aside, and Spain turned to Julen Lopetegui (then of Porto) to steer the sinking ship. The next two years proved highly fruitful, and Julen returned a semblance of stability to the squad.

Spain was unbeaten for the next two years under him, a total run of 20 matches, with the result being that they went into Russia as one of the in-form teams in the world.

They were placed in a relatively navigable group, and they were widely expected to make it into the latter stages.

The managerial upheaval, however, meant that Fernando Hierro stepped in for Lopetegui with barely two days to know his players, and Spain was consequently dumped out of the round-of-16 by hosts Russia.

As recently as June, Lopetegui had a genuine shot at achieving immortality by winning the World Cup, and in hindsight, he would regret throwing that away for an adventure which brought nothing but embarrassment.

#4 Perez' fractured relationship with managers

Perez has a notorious history of firing managers rapidly

Florentino Perez is the billionaire president of Real Madrid, and his policy of changing coaches as quickly as they come in is well known throughout the world.

Perez runs a tight ship at the Bernabeu, and his role as Judge, Jury, and executioner means that he controls the key decisions in policies such as player transfers and coach's hiring or firing.

He has had two spells at the club, the first of which lasted from 2000 - 2006, and saw six coaches revolve through the manager's door at Real, including a period in 2004 when Real Madrid had the ridiculous record of having three different coaches in just three months, with the result being that the club lacked stability and underwent a three year trophyless period, and underperformed in the UCL.

After resigning in 2006, he returned for a fresh stint at the presidency in 2009, and while there have been many improvements in terms of silverware, a similar factor has been the frequency of coaches.

Santiago Solari (Lopetegui's temporary successor) is the seventh manager Real has had in the nine years of Perez' second term, and off the six before him, only Zinedine Zidane left on his own terms, with the rest essentially being pushed out.

Lopetegui ended his reign at just 14 matches, which is the second shortest since 1929, and there would be no prizes for guessing they the shortest reign also came under the 71-year-old, when Jose Antonio Amacho resigned after just five matches, and this unfavorable factor for coaches is a reason why Lopetegui would best have stayed away from the role.

#3 He was not yet cut out for the job

The Real Madrid job seemed bigger than Lopetegui

Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world, possessing a plethora of world-class players and an illustrious history, and as such, the club is expected to win every match and every trophy it contests in.

This puts any incoming manager under enormous pressure to succeed instantly, as the instant success syndrome is so ingrained in the club that neither players nor coaches are given the requisite adaptation stage as obtainable at other clubs.

Real Madrid is a big club, and the huge egos present at the club requires marquee managers to coach them, but sometimes even some of the greatest of them all struggle to cope with the demands of the club, evidenced by Mourinho and Ancelotti's travails.

As stated earlier, Lopetegui has had a moderate coaching career till date, and doesn't have the requisite CV to survive as Real Madrid coach, and more often than not, coaches with such sparse achievements fail to cut the grade at the Bernabeu, although Zinedine Zidane is a notable example (though his familiarity with the club as a result of his legendary playing career gave him an edge).

Only the biggest coaches can survive a failure at Real with their reputations still intact, with Mou and Ancelotti as examples who went on to other big jobs despite getting the sack at Real Madrid.

#2 The impending departure of Ronaldo

Ronaldo gave a hint of his departure during Real Madrid's title celebrations

Cristiano Ronaldo's story at Real Madrid is well documented, and his status as one of the greatest players in the history of football means that it is every coach’s dream to coach a team with him, as all that needs to be done is revolve the team around Ronaldo, and trophies are guaranteed to be won.

Lopetegui’s father recently came out in defense of his son by stating that they stole 50 goals from him (through Ronaldo’s departure), and failed to replace him, thereby setting him up for failure. There is a lot of truth to this, as Ronaldo’s presence in the Real Madrid squad helped mask a lot of the team’s deficiencies and his departure laid them bare for all to see.

As at the time of Lopetegui’s appointment, Ronaldo was still a Real Madrid player, and even though he had not officially departed, there were strong indications that he would, with a reported breakdown in relationship with Perez and more pointedly his statements in the immediate aftermath of Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph key indicators of this.

Lopetegui should have pressed on for guarantees of Ronaldo’s stay, or strong pursuits of replacements, failing which he should not have signed, but he did neither of this and effectively dug his own grave with his hands.

#1 He was not the club's preferred choice

Conte was Perez' first choice

Following the shock departure of Zinedine Zidane after guiding Real to her third consecutive Champions League triumph, a replacement was understandably needed, and Florentino Perez turned to out of work former Chelsea and Juventus manager Antonio Conte.

The 49-year-old Italian is a serial winner and made a name for himself during his time with Juventus whom he led to four consecutive Serie A titles, and earned widespread acclaim for his use of three at the back.

He further cemented his reputation in England with Chelsea after guiding The Blues to a historic Premier League title, and stamped his authority in England with his new system, influencing other managers to adopt same.

However, severance tussles with Chelsea put off the approach for Conte, and Real turned their attention to another dynamic manager in Maurizio Pochetino, but failed to pry him away from Tottenham, while neither Max Allegri nor Joachim Low were interested in leaving their current employs.

It is only when these fo options failed that the club then sought out Lopetegui as a compensation package, and this always made him a very dispensable liability, as he was not a priority in the first place.

Perez has always shown a propensity for unwavering faith in purchases sanctioned by him, and had that been the case with Julen, he might have not found himself out of a job so soon, but his contingency status made him easy to get rid off, and he would have been best advised to remain focused on the Spain job.