The path from Liverpool to Real Madrid is a well-trodden one, as Reds supporters know all too well.
Steve McManaman, Michael Owen, Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso have all swapped Anfield for the Bernabeu in times gone past, and Trent Alexander-Arnold looks set to join that list as he reportedly closes in on agreeing a move to the Spanish capital in the coming weeks.
Rafael Benitez has also managed both clubs (albeit not moving directly from one to the other), and a fresh report hints at the possibility that he mightn’t be the only ex-LFC boss about whom that could be said.
Real Madrid considering Klopp as Ancelotti’s successor
As reported by Graeme Bailey for TBR Football, Real Madrid are exploring potential successors to Carlo Ancelotti, who’s believed to be ready to step away from the Bernabeu dugout at the end of this season.
While Bayer Leverkusen boss Alonso (who’d been heavily linked with the Liverpool job last year) is Los Blancos’ preferred candidate, the hierarchy are also working on other possible candidates, one of whom is believed to be Jurgen Klopp.
Some members of the Real Madrid hierarchy believe that an experienced manager may be required to take charge of a squad comprising a mixture of global superstars and prodigious talents.
The 57-year-old is also understood to be of interest to Brazil and USA should either of those change coaches, although it’s believed the former Reds manager – now Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull – isn’t in any rush to return to the coalface of management, something that he’s reiterated since leaving Anfield last May.
We’d be shocked if Klopp takes the Real Madrid job
Klopp openly stated that he stepped away from Liverpool because he was so drained from the exertions of managing at a high level for more than two decades, and even though it’s been nearly a year since he was last in the dugout, we don’t imagine him returning to that profession any time soon.
We definitely can’t see him taking one of the hottest hotseats in world football at the Bernabeu, where past managers have been sacked despite winning LaLiga, such is the pressure to deliver Champions League glory at the club who’ve dominated that particular tournament in the 21st century.
Also, whoever next takes that job will have an extremely hard act to follow in Ancelotti, who’s won Europe’s biggest prize three times with Real Madrid (and could retain the trophy this year).
Maybe one day we’ll see Klopp return to the dugout, but despite the incredible prestige which comes with managing Los Blancos, we don’t envisage him stepping into such a stressful role so soon after leaving Liverpool for that very reason.
However, that the Bernabeu hierarchy would even consider him to be a viable candidate illustrates just how exceptional a manager he’s been, and we can thank our lucky stars that he spent almost a decade in charge of the Reds.
