After crashing out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage and sitting nine points behind bitter rivals Barcelona in La Liga, Real Madrid are heading for a rare trophy-less season.
It’s been a campaign of upheaval at the Bernabeu after the club saw Carlo Ancelotti depart last summer, to be replaced by former Madrid and Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.
However, after a poor start to the campaign, Alonso was sacked in January and replaced by his former club and country team-mate Alvaro Arbeloa, who was promoted from Madrid's Castilla side.
Unai Emery linked with Real Madrid post
But with Arbeloa overseeing the Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich and failing to inspire a resurgence in the league, the Spanish press appear convinced that there will again be a change in the Bernabeu dugout this summer.
Spanish outlet Fichajes doubles down on this, claiming that ‘Arbeloa’s stage seems to be nearing its end’ and the club are actively working on finding his replacement.
They add that ‘several’ names are being banded around, with Aston Villa boss Unai Emery ‘gaining prominence’ in recent days and is now a ‘serious option’.
The report cites Emery’s work at Villa as strengthening his reputation in Europe, with his meticulous nature, tactical nous and clear identity all picked up by the Madrid hierarchy.
Despite Emery’s list of admirers growing in Madrid, the report adds that former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp remains at the top of the club’s wish list, with the German’s experience and personality making him the club’s ‘ideal’ option.
However, Madrid are said to acknowledge that it will be a challenge to appoint Klopp, as negotiations would be ‘complex’, meaning that the club are drawing up an extensive list of high-level alternatives.
With this in mind, Emery, who joined Aston Villa in 2022 and was last year ranked at no.9 in FourFourTwo's list of the game's best managers, is seen as a more ‘realistic’ option, with the club fully aware of how important their next coaching hire is, as they look to appoint a manager who ‘best suits the project.’
The likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Didier Deschamps have also been linked with the job in recent weeks.
In FourFourTwo’s view, with experience at Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, plus spells in La Liga with Sevilla and Villarreal, Emery would bring plenty of experience to the post, should Madrid move for him.
Another box-tick is Emery’s experience in European competitions, with the 54-year-old having won the Europa League three times with Sevilla, once with Villarreal and also having reached the final with Arsenal, while he currently has Aston Villa in the semi-finals of this year’s competition.
