Alonso turns 44 this Tuesday, November 25th, and instead of celebrating having Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga and among the Champions League’s top teams, many are starting to think his days are numbered due to the many fires he’s yet to put out.
The latest setback came less than 24 hours ago, with news that Vinicius Junior had informed the club he wouldn’t renew his contract as long as tensions with the Basque coach remained.
And it’s not surprising, given that certain gestures from the manager towards the Brazilian - who didn’t take them well (like the substitution in El Clásico) - have raised doubts about his ability to manage a squad full of superstars.
On top of that, Flashscore has learnt that the dressing room heavyweights aren’t making things easy for him.
Vini, Valverde, Camavinga, Rodrygo and Bellingham, among others, are emerging as the leaders of a revolt that looks set to end with the coach leaving the bench before long, especially since the club’s hierarchy is siding with the players and paid little attention when he requested the signing of Martin Zubimendi, his only summer wish.
The dispute goes back a long way
Surprisingly, the issues between the squad and the coach didn’t just start now, as some odd behaviour has started to appear on the pitch, like the lack of reaction of some players during Alvaro Rodriguez’s goal in the 2-2 draw against Elche.
We’re told that Xabi lost the dressing room back in the summer, during the Club World Cup, which ended with Madrid being knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain, who handed them a painful 4-0 defeat in the semi-finals. Incidents involving Valverde in Almaty and Vinicius in El Clásico only added fuel to the fire.
Despite the disagreements, Alonso believed he could stick to his usual leadership style, which is much stricter than that of his predecessor, Carlo Ancelotti, and that has ended up blowing everything up.
Now, all that’s left is to see whether there’s a dramatic turn of events and he stays, or if, on the contrary, his departure will be announced soon.