Julen Lopetegui fills the "huge gap" left open after Zinedine Zidane announced weeks back that he was stepping down as Coach, leaving everyone at Real Madrid in "shock". The Spanish Football Club quickly put themselves to work to probe potential candidates, which for a Club at this level are only a hand full.
The first choice was Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham Hotspurs, but the Tottenham Coach had recently signed his renewal with the London Club & Real Madrid preferred not to enter into a negotiating "war" with owner Levy. Thus this choice was discarded.
The other names were Liverpool Coach Kloop also with contract, Allegri of Juventus who said no due to personal reasons, German National Team Selector Low & Chelsea FC coach Conte. There was even a rumour that perhaps ex Real Madrid players Laudrup, Michel or even Guti would be given the position. In the end Real Madrid has surprised most with the Lopetegui announcement.
Julen Lopetegui started his professional Football career as Goalkeeper at Real Madrid with 19 years of age, thus he is very familiar with the Club (apart later training as Coach of Real Madrid B) . He wasn´t able to consolidate his position due to the heavy competition from the then Real Madrid goalie Francisco Buyo. He was loaned out & later moved to other Clubs ( Logroñes, FC Barcelona & Rayo Vallecano) were he gained his prestige as one of Spanish Football finest goalkeepers reaching the Spanish National Team.
He has Coaching experience, apart from the Spain National Team, with the U/19 & U/21 Spanish National Teams (winning European Championships) & Oporto.
Although the news of the Lopetegui announcement has caught most "offside" their was talk that the Real Madrid players of the Spanish National Team ( Ramos, Carvajal, Isco, Vazquez, Nacho & Asensio) have recommended to Real Madrid Directives that Lopetegui was their man. If this is true, this may have weight heavily in favour of the naming. Julen Lopetegui had recently extended his contract with the Spanish National Team until 2020 but a release clause of 2M€ was included which Real Madrid have executed.
We wish the best of luck to Lopetegui on his new position, a job full of pressure & with the added shadow of the 3 straight Champions League wins under Zidane looming.
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