One of the biggest managerial jobs in the world has opened up with Real Madrid having sacked Julen Lopetegui. That was looking more and more inevitable really with a poor run of form. There was no way back for Lopetegui as Los Blancos were destroyed 5-1 Barcelona in the first La Liga Clasico of the season on the weekend. Who will be the next permanent manager heading into the hotseat at the Bernabeu?
Next Real Madrid Managers Odds*
Santiago Solari 5/6
Mauricio Pochettino 7/2
Antonio Conte 5/2
Roberto Martinez 6/1
Arsene Wenger 10/1
Guti 25/1
José Mourinho 40/1
Didier Deschamps 50/1
Leonardo Jardim 50/1
66/1 bar
* (betting odds taken from William Hill on October 30th, 2018 at 3:28 pm)
Table of Contents
Where Madrid are at
After an embarrassing loss at the Nou Camp against Barcelona on teh weekend, Real Madrid are 9th in the Spanish top flight on 14 points from ten games. That leaves them seven points behind current leaders Barcelona.
In the UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid have taken six points from three games. They opened with a home win over Roma, but then suffered a shock loss out at CSKA Moscow on match day two. They recovered to take a very unconvincing 2-1 home win over Viktoria Plzen on match day three.
Their current form across all competitions reads W1 D1 L5 in their last seven fixtures. They failed to score in four of those games.
Can Solari be more than a stop gap?
The club have promoted Santiago Solari to take temporary charge of the club. He has similarities in his past to the progress of former manager Zinedine Zidane. He was a youth team boss at the Bernabeu and then took charge at Castilla who is Real Madrid’s B-team. But it looks as if he is going to be nothing more than a stop gap. That having been said he has a favourable run of games coming up so he could make an impression. In the next fortnight, Real Madrid face a trip to Melilla in the Copa del Rey, league games against Real Valladolid and Celta Vigo, and a Champions League fixture at Czech side Viktoria Plzen.
This is a club though which prides themselves on thriving at the very top of the game. They are the reigning European champions of course and with spending likely coming in the summer to establish themselves, they are going to need someone who can handle all of that. So we think that they are going to look elsewhere and the club’s statement that Solari is “provisionally” in charge is a pretty big nod towards that.
Conte & Wenger
Antonio Conte has been linked with a move to Real Madrid since the summer really. The drawn-out dismissal from Chelsea left him in a bit of limbo and Real Madrid had to move forward which they did with Lopetegui. Conte is at 5/2 odds in the Next Real Madrid manager market* (betting odds taken from William Hill on October 30th, 2018 at 3:28 pm) and has still had the backing of punters. But the Italian seems to be driving a really hard bargain in terms of the length of contract and how much money he wants. He could be phasing himself out of the job really.
Arsene Wenger is still available for work and the former Arsenal boss came out recently and said that he would be back at work in January 2019. But with the opposition at the Bernabeu opening up early, could the Frenchman be lured? Perhaps so, but there is a strange factor in this. Lopetegui was on the outs before that nightmare in El Clasico against Barcelona on the weekend. That means that the club would have had time to get something sorted with the out-of-work Wenger done and not had to have installed Solari temporarily.
Timeline
The timeline is really important in all of this. In Spain when a temporary manager is placed into position, the club has only two weeks before a permanent manager has to be named.
In contract
So that could mean that Real Madrid are working towards something with a manager who is already employed somewhere. That is nturally going to take longer to sort out. Former midfielder Guti is an appealing option for them. He is currently the assistant coach at Besiktas but has been highly touted for a top job. He has to be one of the frontrunners for the position and of the names mentioned so far, at those big 25/1 odds* (betting odds taken from William Hill on October 30th, 2018 at 3:28 pm) he actually appeals a lot.
Current Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has had his name touted around and his style of management would be far more of a fit for the club then certainly Antonio Conte. Real Madrid like managers who work with and listen to players. Conte is a more of an authoritative disciplinarian who controls everything himself. Martinez didn’t have a great track record in the Premier League with Everton so that could be distracting but has firmly established himself with his record with the Belgium side which is full of stars like Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku.
Pochettino ready for the step up?
Then there is Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino at 7/2 odds* (betting odds taken from William Hill on October 30th, 2018 at 3:28 pm). He strangely came out this week to say that he wasn’t particularly happy with certain things this season. With their title chances in the Premier League drifting even further with a home loss against Manchester City on the weekend, the time could be right for him to jump ship and make the step up to Real Madrid. Qualification from their Champions League group looks very unlikely to with one point from three games. Pochettino has been linked with them before. The side story to that, of course, could be that it would be easier for Madrid to then potentially lure Harry Kane away from the Premier League club too.
Prediction
Our prediction is that they are going to go out and get Pochettino who must realise that he has taken Spurs about as far as they are going to get. His managerial style is the perfect fit for Real Madrid and is probably going to be easier to get than Martinez from Belgium. Things are going well for Martinez there. Our back up prediction would be Guti.
Real Madrid Odds
To Win Any Major Trophy – 4/5
No Trophies Won – 6/11
1 Trophy Won – 7/4
To win La Liga Primera 2018/19 – 7/1
* (betting odds taken from October 30th, 2018 at 3:28 pm)
