With everyone speculating who the next manager of Real Madrid will be, rumors have begun to swirl that former player, Raúl González Blanco, will follow the same path Zinedine Zidane did on his way to becoming the manager.
The ‘Zinedine Zidane plan’ worked out better than anyone expected. The French player turned manager spent several years learning the ropes as he spent time as the assistant to Carlo Ancelotti, he coached the lower youth teams and the Castilla team before taking over at the beginning of 2016.
While the plan for Zizou was accelerated due to the firing of Rafa Benitez, Zidane stepped in and led Real to their eleventh UCL title not half a year into the job.
According to reports, President Florentino Perez and the Madrid board see the same qualities in legendary Los Blancos player, Raúl. The 40-year-old Spaniard has been working closely with the club over the last year.
Having a bit of foresight, the famed number seven (before Cristiano took the number) earned his UEFA A and B license over the last month and a half. There is no doubt he will be coaching in some capacity this coming season.
Like we saw with Zizou, Raúl will get his feet wet with one of the La Fabrica teams and slowly work his way up. This, of course, is assuming the club can find a suitable manager to take over the first team for at least the next two or three years.
I think having the legendary player take over is a very smart move as he has will have that same chemistry with the locker room that Zidane had. His connection with the board and many of the players who are on the team will be a huge boost to their performance.
Furthermore, the former striker played with Real Madrid until 2010, meaning players like Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, and Marcelo all played with the Spaniard for at least a season.
I love that this team has an eye to the future while continuing to perform at a high level in the present. One thing is for sure following this team closely, every season guarantees success, and the guarantees even more.
One day Raúl will become the boss of this club, and there’s a very good chance we will see what we saw Zinedine Zidane do.