With the dust still settling on Alvaro Arbeloa replacing Xabi Alonso at Real Madrid, more inside information is coming out about the new coach’s relationship with Florentino Perez.
President Perez sacked Alonso after a Supercopa final defeat to Barcelona and has promoted his former teammate Arbeloa from the B-team.
Stories have long circulated about Arbeloa’s sycophantic behaviour towards Perez, including when he took Jose Mourinho’s side over his teammates knowing it would impress the president.
Giving his take on how close the pair are, Cadena SER’s Jordi Marti said: “When Arbeloa enters the dressing room now, they’ll tell him he’s Florentino Pérez’s spitting image. This changes things.
“When Fede Valverde confronts Arbeloa, he’ll be confronting Florentino.
“This changes everything: all the players know that the king has imposed the viceroy.”
Adding his thoughts, Manolo Romero said such a mess has been caused by Perez, who has also overhyped Arbeloa’s reputation as a coach.
He explained: “Real Madrid reached an agreement with Xabi Alonso when they won the Bundesliga, but they couldn’t bring him in because Ancelotti won the Champions League and La Liga.
“Arbeloa was promoted to Castilla and they got rid of Raúl, who was doing very well.
“Florentino has gotten himself into a mess that isn’t his style.
“Real Madrid now needs to surround itself with people who know about football. He’s been the most heavily promoted coach I’ve ever seen.”
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