Ex-Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa misses out on job after agent offer | OneFootball

It was a difficult situation for Alvaro Arbeloa to walk into at Real Madrid this season, and he was unable to ultimately turn things around, exiting the Champions League at the quarter-final stage and losing La Liga with three games to go. The former Castilla manager is already looking for his next opportunity again.

Arbeloa confirmed before Real Madrid’s final game of the season that it would also be his last at the club. This week it was confirmed by Benfica that his former boss and mentor Jose Mourinho would indeed be the one to take over from him after weeks of speculation. Arbeloa was always highly rated as a manager in the youth ranks at Real Madrid, and was performing well in his first season at Castilla, but struggled to control the dressing room in the senior side, and was unable to implement a clear style of play. He pointed to injuries as a key obstacle for his side in the final months of the season, and can also point to Real Madrid’s convincing victory over Manchester City as evidence of his ability.

Arbeloa offer turned down by Bayer Leverkusen

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The recent talk about Arbeloa’s future is that he is looking for a job abroad to relaunch his managerial career. This week it was announced that former Toulouse manager Carles Martinez would be taking over at Bayer Leverkusen, after a successful spell in France. According to BILD, via Cadena SER, Arbeloa was offered to Leverkusen as a potential option to replace Kasper Hjulmand, but that the idea was rejected. Leverkusen considered Arbeloa too inexperienced to be able to do the job justice.

Opinion of Arbeloa in Spain

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By the end of the season, there was little doubt that the general conclusion was that Real Madrid’s problems went far beyond the manager. Xabi Alonso managed to be sacked with his reputation relatively in tact, but Arbeloa, who of course does not have other senior jobs on his CV, has been damaged by his time as senior manager. His apparent indirect messages to players in his press conferences, most notably with Kylian Mbappe, did not go down well.