Real Madrid receive negative on primary option to replace Xabi Alonso | OneFootball

Real Madrid handed Xabi Alonso a three-year contract in the summer, with no real alternatives to the position. Now with the Basque manager’s future up in the air, they are being forced to improvise potential alternatives.

Alonso’s job is on the line as he goes into the final three games of the year against Alaves (A), Talavera de la Reina (A) and Sevilla (H). Alvaro Arbeloa has been touted as the most likely to take over if he is dismissed, but the names of Zinedine Zidane and Jurgen Klopp have again been brought to the fore.

Jurgen Klopp among Real Madrid preferred choices

Zidane seems to be off the cards though, as he awaits the France national team in 2026. Florian Plettenberg has reported that Klopp is amongst the preferred options at the Bernabeu.

Red Bull executive shuts down Klopp links

However Red Bull’s Global Director of Football, and colleague of Klopp, Oliver Mintzlaff, has done his best to shut down the story.

“He has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be a coach at the moment,” he told the Leipzigier Volkszeitung at an event (via Sport).

Klopp retired from management after leaving Liverpool 18 months ago, and has taken a role more distant from the intensity of the day-to-day, overseeing the football operations at Red Bull.

Klopp greets Carlo Ancelotti in his final season at Liverpool.

Klopp links were denied in the summer

Before Alonso was appointed, Klopp was also brought up as an option to replace Carlo Ancelotti. Despite the strong backing he has from presidential advisor Anas Laghrari, Klopp’s agent publicly declared that he had no interest in the move, explaining that he was content in his current role.

It leaves Los Blancos in something of an awkward place. While Arbeloa is highly regarded at the club, neither he nor fellow familiar options Santiago Solari or Raul Gonzalez are particularly inspiring.