Jose Mourinho has already discussed three players with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez ahead of his expected return to the club as manager, it has been reported.
Real sacked Xabi Alonso in January and replaced him with Alvaro Arbeloa, who had been managing the Castilla squad.
Los Blancos did not publicly reveal the length of Arbeloa’s contract, however, and that has led to speculation over his long-term future since almost as soon as he was appointed.
His position has not been helped by Real‘s exit to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, while Barcelona will win La Liga for a second consecutive season if they beat them in El Clasico on Sunday.
Spanish radio outlet Radioestadio Noche damningly claimed that some Real players call Arbeloa a ‘cone’ – an insult in Spanish football – on the bench during games.
And he was accused by various Spanish outlets of ‘doing nothing’ to prevent an altercation between Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni at the club’s training ground on Thursday.
Read more: Real Madrid players use brutal nickname to talk about manager Alvaro Arbeloa
The altercation led to Valverde slipping and falling before hitting his head on a table. He was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment and diagnosed with a form of traumatic brain injury which requires between 10 and 14 days rest.
Though Valverde denied that he hit Tchouameni, or he was hit himself, Real opened disciplinary proceedings against the pair and fined them both €500,000.
As far as making a claim to keep his job beyond this season goes, it can surely be fair to say that Arbeloa isn’t exactly in an ideal position.
Mourinho talks with Perez revealed
Talk of a return to the club for Mourinho, who is currently in charge of Benfica, has ramped up in recent weeks and he is now the heavy favourite to be in the Los Blancos hotseat next season.
He is said to have laid out a list of 10 demands in talks with president Perez, including that he signs a minimum two-year contract and that he is given free rein to solve reportedly major structural issues within the club’s medical department, which has blamed for an increased number of injuries.
Mourinho has been in charge of Benfica since September (Image: Getty)
It is also claimed that Mourinho only wants to speak with Perez, and will not accept, under any circumstances, any interference from players in his team selections.
Read more: Jose Mourinho’s 10 major demands to complete return to Real Madrid as manager
It is clear, then, that Mourinho wants to oversee a whole-scale rebuild of Real as a club – and that seems to include an overhaul of the playing squad too.
A number of first-team players are out of contract this summer, including Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba and Dani Carvajal, while Ferland Mendy’s serious knee injury could see him miss the entirety of next season.
According to TEAMtalk – who claim that the outgoing France manager Didier Deschamps is an alternative candidate for the job – Mourinho has given his thoughts on the futures of Tchouameni, Valverde and Kylian Mbappe.
It is said that Mourinho is ‘convinced’ that his ‘personality, experience and demanding standards would quickly restore order and harmony within the squad’.
The club’s upper hierarchy are said to be ‘increasingly frustrated’ by the treatment Mbappe has received from supporters, with Spanish football expert Graham Hunter claiming that some players are ‘dissatisfied‘ with his work ethic amid criticism of a recent vacation with his girlfriend in Italy.
Mourinho is said to believe that he can fulfil one of the key criteria that any new Real manager must possess – being ‘capable of reconnecting the dressing room, supporters and wider institution’.
