Real Madrid, if they were not already in it, were launched into planning mode by defeat in El Clasico on Sunday, ending their slim hopes of retaining La Liga this season.
Carlo Ancelotti has already been named as the new Br azil manager, and now Los Blancos are looking ahead to the arrival of Xabi Alonso on the first of June.
Alonso’s arrival will bring fresh optimism to the Santiago Bernabeu ahead of the Club World Cup, as will new signings. Real Madrid intend to make three signings before the tournament in the new transfer window between the first of June and tenth of June. The first of those signings will be Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The principal question that Alonso must answer is how to balance a team and simultaneously get the best out of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior next season. The Frenchman has arguably been Los Blancos’ best player this season, but rarely have they shone together, but Alonso will use them together as a front two for next season.
Alonso has two systems in mind for his new look Real Madrid, one of which would be Carlo Ancelotti’s favoured 4-4-2, and the other would be his preferred 5-3-2/3-5-2 shape that he has been using at Bayer Leverkusen. Obviously these formations are somewhat poor ways of explaining what would happen on the pitch, but they give an idea of what type of players Alonso will include in a starting XI.
The headline casualty of the Alonso era is set to be Rodrygo Goes, who does not have a natural fit in his plans, after being shoehorned into the side with Mbappe and Vinicius this season. Luka Modric, Lucas Vazquez and Jesus Vallejo are all set to see their contracts expire without a renewal offer too.