In a huge breaking news story on Tuesday, it appears that Real Madrid have made a shock move to bring back a former manager from more than a decade ago
After being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter final stage, and with La Liga now all but gone, it feels inevitable that Alvaro Arbeloa will not continue as manager of Real Madrid beyond the end of the season.
It is clear based on the sheer number of reports that the club are looking for an external manager to begin the 26/27 season, although who that manager is has been unclear.
Well, we now may have more clarity. Indeed, as David Ornstein and Mario Cortegana of The Athletic are reporting that former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho is the preferred candidate of Florentino Perez to take over in the Bernabeu hotseat.
They say that the support for Mourinho is not "universal" within the club, nut Perez is driving the process so he is a "strong contender". They also state that he has a 3 million Euros break clause in his contract at his current club, Benfica.
Where to even start here, madness. There is no doubt that the 63-year old was successful during his time at Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013. He was able to stop Pep Guardiola's Barcelona side from winning four La Liga titles in a row, as the team scored over 120 goals in the league that season, the second most ever in the top five leagues.
He also made Los Blancos much more competitive in Europe. Before he came in, the team would consistently be knocked out of the UEFA Champions League in the round of 16, or quarter finals at best. He managed to make three consecutive semi finals, laying the foundations for the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane to benefit from.
However, that was all a very long time ago. There is no doubt that he is not the same manager as he was in his prime, far from it really. His last four jobs have been Spurs, Roma, Fenerbahce and Benfica. With all due respect, these are B tier clubs - with whom he has had varying levels of success with.
Then, there was the drama with Vinicius Jr and Mourinho saying he should not "provoke" opposition fans, in relation to allegations that he had been racially abused, which - rightly so - went down terribly in Real Madrid circles.
There is no doubt he was a world class manager, but that was a hell of a long time ago now. This would be an insane appointment, but well, let's see if it happens.
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