Real Madrid have Mauricio Pochettino on the shortlist of candidates to replace Álvaro Arbeloa ahead next season, sources told ESPN.
The LaLiga giants have begun to scout the coaching market ahead of a summer in which major structural changes are expected that could also affect several of those in charge of the transfer market.
Madrid announced the hiring of Arbeloa to replace Xabi Alonso on Jan. 12, but it was never clarified how long he had signed for.
The former Madrid and Liverpool player was well regarded at the Santiago Bernabéu for his work with the youth team, but some sources tell ESPN that he was never really considered a long-term solution.
Los Blancos have not managed to turn the situation around in Arbeloa’s first few months as coach and some sources claim that the current coach would need “a miracle” or to win the Champions League to have any chance of remaining in the dugout next season.
A source has informed ESPN that Madrid could even offer him another position to stay at the club and even give him the option of returning to his former role as coach of Castilla (Madrid’s reserve team).
Sources say that Madrid are evaluating different candidates to lead the new sporting project and that Pochettino is one of the coaches highly regarded by president Florentino Pérez.
He has been heavily linked with a return to Spurs this summer, although his former team have endured a disastrous season and are in the thick of a relegation battle in the Premier League.
The current coach of the United States — whose contract runs through this summer’s World Cup — had previously been linked with the Madrid job after leading Tottenham Hotspur to the Champions League final in 2019.
Pochettino, who knows LaLiga well from his playing days, has past experience managing high-profile players during his time at Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. However, one of the points most valued by the Madrid is that he coached Kylian Mbappé for two seasons in Paris.
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Pochettino won three titles with Mbappé at PSG — Ligue 1, the French Cup and the French Super Cup. However, he failed to win the Champions League, losing in the semifinals to Manchester City in 2021 and in the round of 16 to Real Madrid in 2022.
Arbeloa’s position is not the only one in jeopardy at the club ahead of what is expected to be a particularly busy summer at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Real Madrid invested more than £170 million ($227.9m) during last summer’s transfer window following a trophyless season but some of the signings haven’t hit the required performance level.
In this regard, several sources have told ESPN that Madrid’s head of scouting Juni Calafat is another person whose position is under question.
Juni was highly praised in the past for signing young talents such as Vinícius Junior, Rodrygo, Éder Militão and Jude Bellingham. But, the jury remains out on last summer’s signings — Franco Mastantuono, Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
A source has told ESPN that Pérez and the Brazilian head scout have a very good relationship but this would not be enough to ensure his continuity at Madrid if the team goes a second consecutive season without titles.
Jürgen Klopp, Unai Emery and Massimiliano Allegri have also been linked with the club by some Spanish media outlets in recent weeks while other sources insist that Zidane’s return remains Florentino’s greatest wish.
However, some sources claim that the Frenchman has already agreed to take charge of the French national team after the World Cup.
