Surprise U-turn at Real Madrid with Xabi Alonso
Finally, there will be no interim coach at Real Madrid for the Club World Cup , which will be held in the United States from June 14 to July 13.
After several media outlets reported that Xabi Alonso would join immediately, Real Madrid confirmed it unofficially this Monday. The club is now considering when to announce his arrival, while also considering how to communicate Carlo Ancelotti ‘s departure .
In recent days, and given the Italian coach’s still-unofficial departure, there had been talk that Santiago Solari would be the one to sit on the Real Madrid bench in this competition, beating the other candidate, Raúl González Blanco .
However, in the last few hours some information has already appeared that it would be Xabi Alonso , who has already said goodbye to Bayer Leverkusen , who will occupy that position.
Specifically, the newspaper ‘Marca’ said that “the decision to have Alonso lead the team in the World Cup in the United States was made last week, in a conversation in which the club gave the coach virtually no choice.
‘This starts at the World Cup.’ Madrid understands that it makes no sense to sign a coach and leave him at home planning the next season while Solari, with almost no resume, takes charge of the team in such an important tournament.”
Journalist Siro López spoke along similar lines on Cadena Cope ‘s ‘Tiempo de juego’ . “On Friday they told me there was a problem, it seemed like he was going to join on July 1st due to a tax issue. I don’t know if it’s due to days or if he’ll have to stay in Germany due to the issue after his tax return, but today, I don’t know if it was yesterday afternoon or this morning, they told me that in principle Xabi has accepted what Real Madrid has asked him and that in principle the idea is for Xabi Alonso to lead Real Madrid in the World Cup.”
Finally, Josep Pedrerol confirmed on ‘El Chiringuito’ that the Basque player will join on June 1st and will do so with three signings. One will be Trent Alexander-Arnold , and the other two will be a left-back and a center-back.
After all this information appeared, it was Real Madrid itself that confirmed that Xabi Alonso will be back for the Club World Cup , without specifying a specific date.
Source: Mundo Deportivo
