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Real Madrid is in a state of flux at the moment. The club embarked on a new era at the start of the season, following the departures of not only former player turned manager, Zinedine Zidane, who is the most successful manager in the club’s recent history, but also the club's record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo.
Zidane announced his resignation from the role in shocking scenes immediately after leading Real to her third consecutive Champions League triumph, and the shockwaves hadn’t fully settled from that when Ronaldo decided to trade Spain for Italy with his record-breaking transfer to Juventus.
Los Blancos set about finding a replacement for Zidane, and entered into secret negotiations with former Spain coach Julen Lopetegui, and announced his appointment just two days to the commencement of the World Cup, with the consequent effect being that he was sacked by the Spanish football federation.
In playing personnel, the club opted against going for a marquee replacement for Ronaldo, choosing instead to purchase a few relatively untested players to buttress their team, rather than go for a world-class galactico.
The decision seems to have backfired, as the club lost its first competitive fixture post-Ronaldo to Atletico in the UEFA Super Cup, and is currently in a terrible of form; winless in four matches across all competitions, and worse, going on its worst goal drought since 1985.
A lot of reasons have been given as to why the club is suffering, and even though there is some truth to those reasons, the bottom line is that at a club the stature of Real Madrid, excuses are never accepted, and like expected, the buck of the blame lies at the feet of the manager.
The players recently came out to state that the coach has their full backing, but any observer of football knows that more often than not, these are mere smokescreens. For a trigger-happy club like Real Madrid where results are all that matters, Lopetegui’s job could really be on the line if results don’t swing in his favour and fast.
The Real job is Lopetegui’s biggest till date, and barely four months into his tenure, he finds himself under intense pressure, with speculation already suggesting that his job is on the line, and that that the club has given him a one-match ultimatum (in the Clasico with Barcelona) to decide his fate, and that replacements are already being considered. Here are four potential replacements for Lopetegui should Real Madrid decide to fire him.
#4 Arsene Wenger
A ridiculous option at first choice, as Wenger goes against everything Real Madrid stands for. The Frenchman is not known for his luxurious spending, while his last major honour was over 15 years ago (With all due respect to the FA Cup).
However, dismissing the 68-year-old at first glance would be to ignore a fundamental aspect of Wenger’s last decade at Arsenal, which was the financial restriction placed on the club’s recruitment based on the huge expenses to build their stadium.
Wenger did not have access to top quality players, as the club was not financially buoyant to remain competitive in the market with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Man City for the best talent, so he instead had to devise a model whereby the club’s extensive scouting system sought out budding talent on the cheap across Europe, then bred them into superstars and sold them off for a healthy profit.
This model even though not translated into on-field success, was extremely useful for the club’s finances, and ensured Arsenal steady posted profits, which is an increasingly rare occurrence for big clubs today.
That Wenger was still able to achieve some modicum of success and ensure the club still qualified for the Champions League despite having such inferior players is a testament to his managerial abilities.
Wenger is one of the most innovative managers tactically in the history of the game, and his records with Arsenal in the earlier part of his tenure when he had the privilege of coaching some of the best players in the world speaks for itself.
At Real, Arsene would be in charge of some a team of World Class players, who are among the best in their position, so getting peak performances out of them would not be a problem, as the huge egos associated with the Madrid dressing room ensures that effective man management more than tactical ability is a requisite as Zinedine Zidane showed, and when it comes to man management, there are not many better than Wenger in the history of football.
Moreover, his appointment if taken would likely be a short fix, a short-term appointment in a caretaker capacity to oversee the managerial affairs of the club until the end of the season, and it is difficult to see beyond Wenger for a perfect fit for this role.
#3 Laurent Blanc
The 52-year-old former French international is another manager who fits the bill as a potential replacement for Lopetegui as Real Madrid coach.
Blanc had a distinguished playing career, representing some of the biggest clubs in the world including Inter Milan, Barcelona and Manchester United, winning a plethora of titles during his playing days.
He was also a seasoned international, making 97 appearances for the French national team across three different cades, and won the biggest trophy in football; the World Cup in 1998, in addition to a European Championship two years later, so the players in the Madrid dressing room can identify with him as a former superstar.
His coaching CV, is also pretty impressive, as after cutting his teeth at Bordeaux where he led the modest club to a surprise Ligue 1 triumph in 2008, he moved on to PSG in 2013, where the club's dominance of French football truly started.
Under his guidance, the Parisian club won 11 of the 12 domestic trophies available, including three consecutive Ligue 1 titles, with their only failure coming in the 2013/2014 Coupe de France, which was won by Guingamp.
His spell at PSG brought him in contact with some of the biggest names in football, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Thiago Silva, so he wouldn't be out of place managing the superstars at Real Madrid.
He has been out of management since parting company with PSG on 2016, but an offer to coach the biggest club in the world and test himself on the big stages once more would undoubtedly tempt the Ales born former defender out of his golf playing vacation.
#2 Guti
The only one on this list who is currently in a job (with his role as assistant manager at Besiktas).
The 42-year-old is a former midfielder who spent over 25 years with Real Madrid during his playing career, representing the club at all levels from the youth seat through to the senior team until his departure in 2010.
Guti won almost everything there was to win at club level, and shared the same dressing room with key figures in the squad including Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and the now departed Ronaldo, so he would instantly command the respect of the team.
He also managed the youth teams of Real Madrid and coached the likes of Achraf Hakimi, Nacho Fernandez and Lucas Vasquez at the developmental level.
He was in the forerunning to be announced as Zidane's replacement before the club opted for Lopetegui.
Guti's extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the club makes him an ideal fit for the role, while his status as a former galactico would make the players warm up to him.
This ideal sets of conditions could see Guti going on to achieve great success, much like Zinedine Zidane who came into the club in similar circumstances.
#1 Antonio Conte
Another one who finds himself out of a job after being sacked by Chelsea in the summer, the Italian is one of the premier tacticians in the world and has the requisite CV to manage a club like Real Madrid.
The 49-year-old began his coaching career in his native Italy and made a name for himself at first Atalanta, then Siena who he guided back to Serie A at the first attempt before being appointed by his former club Juventus in 2011.
The Bianconerri had been struggling since their promotion to the top level after being relegated in 2006 for their complicity on the Calciopolli scandal.
In his first season, he totally reinvented the club, and helped the Old Lady to win its first league title in almost a decade, which they achieved without losing a match (becoming the first team to finish a season unbeaten since the Serie A expanded to a 38-game, 20 team league).
He introduced a 3-5-2 system of playing which brought out the best of midfielders like Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba.
Conte departed Juventus after four years of utter dominance in which he established the club as the undisputed best in Italy, leading it to four consecutive league titles in each of the seasons he managed the club.
He was appointed as Chelsea manager in 2016, and despite widespread cynicism to his system due to its unmitigated failures in the past, he successfully implemented the three at the back formation, with which Chelsea became an almost unstoppable force, and won the league in record-breaking fashion.
His system of play was seen as so successful, that he helped usher in a new 'philosophy', with no fewer than 16 Premier League clubs, as well as the England national team going on to attempt this playing pattern. Not bad for a formation which was classified DOA just a year prior.
Falling outs with the board and players meant that Conte was on a short lease, it therefore cane as no surprise when his contract was terminated by the club in June.
However, Conte's tenure at Chelsea has to be classified as a success, while his innovative system would forever immortalize him in the annals of Premier League management.
He is currently locked in a severance dispute with the London club, but this would not deter Real Madrid from going after him, as the club has reportedly listed him as the top priority replacement for Julen Lopetegui in the event that they decide to terminate his contract, which will come as good news to Chelsea owner, as it would reduce the amount of his severance payment.
