Julian Nagelsmann, Xabi Alonso head up list of Carlo Ancelotti successors at Real Madrid

Former Bayern Munich and current Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti will be trading in his club gig for that of the Brazil men’s national team — but not until the end of the 2023/24 season. This leaves the La Liga giants in the unusual position of needing to find a successor an entire year out. And it’s a star-crossed Bundesliga pair rumored to be in their sites.

No, it’s not quite Romeo and Juliet. But the last time Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen met, it was the setting of one shooting star and the rise of another. Julian Nagelsmann’s defeat would be the last game of his Bayern tenure, while Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso would continue to enjoy his meteoric rise.

According to Mundo Deportivo, via Sport1, it’s Alonso and Nagelsmann who head up the list of Ancelotti successors — and in that order. Alonso, who took over a hapless Leverkusen side and turned them resurgent by season’s end, is touted as a “consensus option”. Nagelsmann, meanwhile, checks the same boxes of enterprising attacking football — but despite his greater name recognition, there are perhaps more questions about his readiness at the helm of a big club after the way things ended at Bayern.

Mundo Deportivo also suggests “internal” solutions — in the form of Raul and Alvaro Arbeloa, who are already at the club, as well as Zinédine Zidane, the man who had already brought them so many Champions League successes. Who knows, at this point. So much can happen between now and then.

Looking for the latest transfer talk? The Weekend Warm-up Podcast has you covered on Spotify or below. We hit on Harry Kane’s potential move to Bayern Munich, the uncertain statuses of Noussair Mazraoui, Sadio Mané, Marcel Sabitzer, and Ryan Gravenberch — plus what might be in store for Leon Goretzka in the coming weeks!

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