A new era seems to be about to start at Real Madrid. The massive Spanish team is set to make one of the most awaited managerial changes of the season, parting ways with Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who is reportedly close to becoming the new head coach of the Brazilian national team ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. To replace him, the team has lined up Spanish manager Xabi Alonso as their target number one for the future, and on Friday the former Real Madrid player officially announced he will leave Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, marking the end of an exciting chapter that brought a historic Bundesliga title in Leverkusen, the first ever for the German team. While Real Madrid are still yet to confirm him on the bench for the upcoming season, we can already start to think about what’s next for both players and manager. Let’s see who can benefit the most out of this managerial shift in the summer.
Arda Guler
If we learned something from Xabi Alonso’s spell at Bayer Leverkusen, it was how he was able to improve the performances of some young stars on the German roster, such as Florian Wirtz, who scored 34 goals over the last two years, making him one of the best attackers around Europe, in part by making a small shift in his tactical position on the pitch. Enter Arda Guler. Real Madrid signed the young Turkish talent in the summer of 2023, but despite the six goals scored in his first season and the ten he scored up to now during the 2024-25 season, he has not been able to find a consistent place in the team. Ancelotti spoke about him multiple times, insisting that it might take a bit longer to see him as one of the key players in the squad, but it seems it’s now time for him to shine at the club. Xabi Alonso arrives in Madrid in the right moment in his career, when Arda Guler is ready to make that extra step and become one of the starting players for the Spanish side. Xabi Alonso needs to find the right place for him, but the potential is definitely there.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
It’s definitely a bit early to understand what the roster will look like in the upcoming season, as the expectations are that Real Madrid will make some changes in the summer ahead of the new cycle under Xabi Alonso. For sure, if we look at what he has done at Leverkusen, the full backs were one of the key aspects of his style of playing. Both wingers, Alejandro Grimaldo and Jeremy Frimpong, have shined and proved to be crucial for the way Bayer are playing, especially during the 2023-24 season when they won the Bundesliga title, the DFB Pokal and only lost 3-0 to Atalanta in the Europa League final, which marked the end of their incredible 51 games unbeaten run. Real Madrid are yet to announce their first signing of the summer, but all signs point to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who already announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of his contract this summer. Alexander-Arnold can bring the experience and he can aim to become a key player for Xabi Alonso on the wing, even if it’s possible to imagine he won’t be the only signing in such a pivotal role for the new manager in the upcoming summer.
Jude Bellingham
So far, we’ve mentioned a player that is on the roster at Madrid, but still hasn’t proved his value, and another one who is yet to be confirmed by the club, but let’s now talk about players that are already shining with the current management. While strikers Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. are expected to continue playing as they are doing right now, we might see a different tactical approach on Jude Bellingham, who can play in different positions under Xabi Alonso, as a midfielder but also potentially as an attacking midfielder, as Wirtz, for example has done over the last two seasons at Bayern Leverkusen. If there is one player who can benefit from this change, that’s Bellingham, who can even improve his numbers and impact on the team.
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