Klopp, Zidane or Arbeloa next? Romano reveals ALL on Alonso's Real Madrid exit

Tom Weber

• Updated: 12 Jan 2026 19:30 GMT
• 6 min read

News

Fabrizio Romano has revealed what led to the departure of Xabi Alonso and who could permanently replace him at Real Madrid in the summer.

The Spaniard left his position as Real Madrid manager earlier on Monday in the wake of a 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup. Officially, Alonso and Los Blancos have parted ways by mutual consent.

However, it would not have been a surprise had Alonso been sacked by Real Madrid. Performances had been underwhelming ever since he arrived, and there was major tension with key players, chiefly Vinicius Jr.

Castilla head coach Alvaro Arbeloa has replaced his former teammate in the interim, having mightily impressed club bosses with his work in Real Madrid's youth system.

For now, however, Arbeloa is only in interim charge of the team, and it remains to be seen if he will get the job permanently in the summer or if Real Madrid will make a high-profile appointment.

Alonso's exit: Tension, poor performances and an awkward stylistic fit

Real Madrid hired Alonso in the summer because they wanted to see a more modern approach following a disappointing final season under Carlo Ancelotti, who largely took a laissez-faire stance on management.

Ancelotti gave his superstar players the freedom to solve problems on the pitch themselves, whereas Alonso wanted to put a clearly defined system in place. According to Fabrizio Romano, this immediately became a problem after his arrival.

Not used to Alonso's methods, players immediately began to question the coach's credentials. Creative sparks like Vinicius Jr felt boxed in by the young coach's more rigid, disciplinarian approach.

After months of tension, things ultimately came to a head on Sunday. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano revealed that the loss to Barcelona made Alonso's position untenable.

"Right after the game, the situation between Alonso and some of the players was not the best possible," he explained. "Let's say it like this to be kind about the situation because, in reality, the situation was quite tense between Alonso and some of the players already in the past few months.

"We all saw what happened in the first Clasico in the first half of the season. Real Madrid won that Clasico against Barcelona, but we all remember the reaction from Vinicius Jr. After that, Alonso was able to handle the situation with Vinicius to try to find common ground.

"But it was not only with a complicated relationship between Vinicius and Alonso. Some of the players, already since the Club World Cup, [were unhappy]. The Club World Cup was not exciting for Real Madrid, but obviously was just the beginning for Alonso.

"From what I understand, the ideas between Alonso and Real Madrid players were not 100 per cent shared, they were not 100 per cent on the same page, not even 90 or 80 per cent.

"Alonso had his own ideas and wanted to bring his successful model after what he did at Bayer Leverkusen also to Real Madrid in terms of training sessions, in terms of tactical approach, in terms of team identity. So he wanted to follow his own model.

"Well, the players were used to something completely different in terms of tactics, in terms of methods and some of them were not so happy with this situation. We saw that on the pitch because it's not just about the Super Cup final. It was a general feeling between Alonso and the players.

"Already in December, Alonso had been close to being fired. Real Madrid decided to continue with Alonso because he won the games that he had to win, but it was not convincing. That was already complicated in December.

"Real Madrid, just in a few games this season, have been convincing. In many other games, they did not look like a dominant team. They believe that this was never going to work. Alonso believes that this is the best situation for Real Madrid to part ways."

Romano insists that Real Madrid have not made a decision on who will permanently replace Alonso. Links with Zinedine Zidane and Jurgen Klopp will inevitably resurface, but both currently look like unlikely appointments.

"There are some managers appreciated by Florentino Perez. Zidane will always be in his heart, but Zidane already has a verbal agreement with the French national team. Let's see what's going to happen in the summer - if he's going to respect that agreement after the World Cup.

"I can guarantee that nothing is agreed at this stage. On Jurgen Klopp, nothing is decided, nothing is agreed, for sure. He's a manager super appreciated internally by people at Real Madrid, like Perez, but nothing is pre-agreed."

For now, Arbeloa will have the opportunity to impress. According to Romano, Real Madrid believe that the former defender's style of management resembles more that of Ancelotti than Alonso, so there is optimism that he can get a tune out of the players.

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