Real Madrid head coach Álvaro Arbeloa said he would be “very happy” to see José Mourinho return to take charge of the club, calling his former boss “number one” and asserting that Mourinho is “one of us.” Mourinho has emerged as a contender to replace Arbeloa next season, with ESPN reporting that he is the leading candidate on a three-man shortlist.
Arbeloa denied that the Real Madrid dressing room has become “unmanageable,” responding to questions about a run of high-profile incidents in recent weeks. Those incidents include a training-ground confrontation between Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde, president Florentino Pérez calling elections after a second trophyless season, and a claim by Kylian Mbappé that Arbeloa had told him he was the team’s “fourth-choice forward.”
The coach, promoted from the reserve team to replace Xabi Alonso in January, rejected suggestions that his reputation has been harmed by a chaotic second half of the campaign. Arbeloa said he arrived as a First Division RFEF coach and is leaving as Real Madrid coach, having managed Champions League matches, calling the four months “a great experience, a learning process” and saying he will “leave with a clear conscience.”
Madrid go into tomorrow’s game at Sevilla 11 points behind champions Barcelona, who confirmed their title with a Clásico win over Madrid last weekend. Arbeloa made the remarks at a news conference ahead of that penultimate LaLiga match at Sevilla.
On the Mbappé episode, the coach noted the forward missed the Clásico through injury and was used as a second-half substitute in Madrid’s 2-0 win over Real Oviedo on Thursday. After that match Mbappé told journalists Arbeloa had said he was now “the fourth-choice forward in the squad,” a claim the coach said was a misunderstanding. “I was just coming up here and I saw him. I told him to relax, that I’d deal with it,” Arbeloa explained.
Arbeloa said he understands how players feel when they do not play and that his relationship with Mbappé “remains the same.” He added he is not unhappy if private conversations are discussed publicly: “Whenever I talk to the players, I’m not afraid that they might discuss any of the conversations we’ve had,” he said. “If he’s here next season, I’ll be very happy to see him back home.”
