Some of Real Madrid’s former players have expressed their desire to see Raul as the next manager of the Spanish giant, following the departure of Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman vacated the role recently, after the conclusion of Real Madrid’s 2020/21 campaign.
It marked the first occasion since 2009/10 where Los Blancos failed to win a single trophy. Given the managerial changes elsewhere across the continent, Real board now have a long list of renowned managers whom they can consider for the vacant position.
This precarious situation is not new for Los Blancos, as Zidane resigned from the managerial position previously in 2018, only a few days after lifting the UEFA Champions League for the third time as a manager.
Spanish manager Julen Lopetegui was announced as his replacement, but he could last only five months at the club, owing to a string of poor results. Quite understandably, the Real Madrid board will try to avoid a repetition of that.
Though European title-winning managers like Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri are not attached to any club at the moment, many of Real Madrid’s former players have urged the club to appoint Raul Gonzalez, the manager of Real Madrid Castilla, as Zidane’s successor.
Raul has been an influential figure in the club, both as a player and as a manager. He has played 741 games and has won numerous titles as a player, while as a manager, he has won Real Madrid’s first-ever UEFA Youth League.
Given his status at the club and his success with Castilla, Raul has emerged as a candidate for the first team job. He has found support from former footballers and teammates Fernando Morientes, Predrag Mijatovic, Jorge Valdano and Alvaro Benito.
“Raul is more ready than anyone. He’s one of the most reliable options available. His way of working is innovative. Santiago Solari had a lot of personality, but Raul has double that. He was a winner as a player, and he’s that as a coach,”
Morientes said.
Mijatovic has highlighted Raul’s influence on the Castilla team:
“Castilla have done much better than expected. Every Castilla player who debuted with the first team did very well.”
While the Spaniard himself has not commented on this recently, he previously stated his ambition to manage Real .
“At the moment I have been a coach for two years, I am in Castilla. I imagine that in the future it could be a goal (to be the manager of Real Madrid), but for now I am learning and happy in the team I’m on,”
he said in an interview back in March.
While Raul is one of the many names in Real Madrid’s shortlist, he has also emerged as a potential target for Eintracht Frankfurt. The German club are in the hunt for a manager after Adi Hutter vacated the role to join fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach.
Interestingly, German football is something Raul will be accustomed two, as he has spent two seasons with the-then Bundesliga outfit, Schalke 04. In 98 matches, he managed to score 40 goals for the club.
As for Real Madrid, Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino, and Xabi Alonso are some of the names being discussed for the role, barring Raul. Conte recently won the Serie A with Inter Milan, with Pochettino’s relation with the Paris Saint-Germain board has reportedly debilitated over the last few weeks.
Former Real Madrid midfielder Alonso is currently managing the B team of his boyhood club Real Sociedad. On being asked about the rumours linking him to Real, Alonso stated:
“I want to do things at my own pace and to follow my own path. I’m at Sanse now, and that’s where I want to be.”
