Real do not have a manager for next season.
Arbeloa has got a year left in his contract but it is clear that chairman Perez is looking elsewhere for a new boss.
Even though Perez appreciates the positives of Arbeloa’s tenure, results dictate decisions at the Bernabeu.
But to understand who they will hire, you first need to understand how Perez thinks.
Perez does not care about style of play. He does not lose sleep over tactical identity or whether his team presses high or sits deep. What he cares about is winning, and more than that, managing.
Managing egos, stars, the dressing room.
For Perez, the ideal manager is a conductor.
There is a recurring tension at the Bernabeu between two schools of thought. On one side, the number two at the club Jose Angel Sanchez argues that Real need an organiser, a tactically rigorous coach who can impose order on a talented but chaotic squad.
That line of thinking has produced appointments such as Rafa Benitez, Julen Lopetegui and, most recently, Alonso. None of them lasted more than a few months. The president was never truly behind them, and when results gave him the excuse, they were gone.
On the other side sits Perez’s own preference: the grand manager, the aristocrat of the touchline, someone whose presence alone commands respect in the dressing room. Think Zinedine Zidane. Think Carlo Ancelotti, twice. That is the template Perez returns to when his patience runs out.
With Alonso gone, the president’s line has won again. And the names being considered reflect exactly that.
Now to the name that has been generating headlines – Jose Mourinho.
People inside the club suggest he is not necessarily the only name on the list. The Mourinho option is driven principally by Perez himself… and by the Portuguese manager.
Perez likes to throw ideas out there and see what reaction they get.
Mourinho is under contract with Benfica until 2027 but can come out of it, and whatever he says publicly, my understanding is that he is desperate to return to the Bernabeu.
His behaviour during the Gianluca Prestianni affair in the Benfica-Real Madrid Champions League encounter did not lose him fans at the Bernabeu, including the president.
It is the ultimate wildcard – the president reaching for a name he knows, a figure who can dominate a dressing room, a manager whose second spell in Madrid would be already a statement.
However, sources inside the camp say, it would only happen if the other options fall through.