In recent weeks, there has been much speculation regarding a possible return to Real Madrid for Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese, who was in charge at the Bernabeu between 2010 and 2013, is president Florentino Perez’s favoured candidate for the role, should Alvaro Arbeloa be dispensed as expected.
Mourinho remains a popular figure in the Real Madrid offices, while across the fanbase, he divides opinion – especially after his comments on the recent controversy with Vinicius Junior and Gianluca Prestianni. The players have also had their say, now that his possible return is becoming more and more of a reality.
According to journalist Gaston Alvarez (via Cadena SER), the Real Madrid dressing room does not have Mourinho as their preferred candidate to be in charge next season – that honour goes to Jurgen Klopp. Notably, there are a number of personnel that have concerns about the the current Benfica manager.
“Klopp is liked much more than Mourinho. Mourinho is a ticking time bomb, and in a dressing room with certain ways of acting and certain selfishness, a guy like him can come and clash with them directly – and they know it.”
Perez believes Mourinho will make fans forget about failings
Alvarez would go on to explain why Perez looks upon Mourinho so favourably. It’s been recognised that Klopp would be the best candidate as a manager, but with the Portuguese, his arrival is seen as being able to make the fans forget quickly about the club’s failings over the last two seasons.
“Florentino knows that the one who excites is Klopp, but he also knows that if Mourinho comes, after about three weeks, the noise generated by his figure will make the fans forget everything that has happened.”
It will be interesting to see how the situation plays out at Real Madrid over the coming weeks. Once they are officially out of the running to win La Liga, it’s expected that moves will be made towards appointing a new manager – and dumping Arbeloa in the process.
