Former Real Madrid coach influenced Jose Mourinho’s Raul Asencio decision – Report | OneFootball

With three new defenders, Marc Cucurella, Ibrahima Konate, and Denzel Dumfries, having already been signed, and another center-back signing expected in the summer, Real Madrid are going to go into the 2026-27 season with a significantly changed backline.

In addition to these new arrivals, there have also been some departures. Dani Carvajal and David Alaba both left the white club after completing their contracts at the end of the last season. Meanwhile, more departures from the defense are also expected before the upcoming summer transfer window closes.

In this regard, one player who is reportedly marked for an exit is the center-back Raul Asencio. The Spaniard has had quite a mixed career at the top level, and has never been a regular starter. The arrival of these new players is going to make his situation even more untenable, and Real Madrid also need to ensure several departures to make space for more players in their team.

As a result, some reports suggest that Jose Mourinho has already asked Real Madrid for the center-back’s departure, even though it was previously suggested that the Portuguese manager would first assess his players in the preseason before giving the greenlight to any departure.

A report from SPORT now claims that one factor that has made Mourinho make this decision about Asencio is the former Merengue manager Alvaro Arbeloa, with whom the Portuguese trainer maintains a very good relation. The report claims that the Spanish tactician has talked to the new Real Madrid coach about the off-field problems that the defender created last season.

The problems between Arbeloa and Asencio have been widely reported in the media. The player allegedly was unhappy for not being a part of the lineup for the UCL match against Manchester City, and retaliated against the coach by making himself unavailable for a league match against Elche, when Militao and Alaba were both unavailable, and Rudiger was forced to play despite his planned break.

In the aftermath of these episodes, Arbeloa did not call-up the defender for several more games, even though he apologized a few days later. Now, this issue seems to be affecting Raul Asencio even after the change in management, and it remains to be seen how his future at Real Madrid would pan out.