Florentino Perez growing increasing wary of Xabi Alonso amid Real Madrid tensions | OneFootball

Real Madrid have made a good start to the 2025-26 season, but there has been growing discontent in recent weeks – and this has made its way all the way up to club president Florentino Perez.

Xabi Alonso has done well since taking over from Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid head coach, but not everything is going his way. He had a well-documented spat with Vinicius Junior after the Brazilian’s substitution in El Clasico, and although that has now been settled, the ramifications of that incident are still ongoing.

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This, coupled with player concerns after the midweek defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League, have led Perez to become increasingly concerned about Alonso and his position as head coach, according to Sport.

Perez has also reportedly bee unconvinced by Alonso’s tactical efforts – specifically, there is a feeling that he has had to rely on a settled core group of Real Madrid players, with very few changes made game-to-game. Furthermore, the club’s hierarchy are said to have not seen any of “the footballing modernity” that was promised upon the arrival of the former Bayer Leverkusen manager.

Perez did not have Alonso as first-choice manager option

Interestingly, the report states that Perez had initially wanted Jurgen Klopp to replace Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid head coach, but when the former Liverpool manager made it clear that he did not want to return to the dugout, it was decided that Alonso would be who the club sought to hire.

There has been so much noise surrounding Alonso in recent weeks, and this certainly will not be helping him or the players. For now, things are generally going well, and victory at Rayo Vallecano on Sunday would ensure that Real Madrid go into the third international break of the season with at least a five-point lead in the La Liga standings.