Everything Xabi Alonso will need to succeed at Real Madrid - and why Trent Alexander-Arnold is so critical

The former Liverpool midfielder, who has overseen a fairytale rise to Bundesliga’s elite with Bayer Leverkusen, will step down as manager of the club at the end of the season.

Alonso has been heavily linked with the Real Madrid head coach position after a remarkable two and a half years at Leverkusen. The club announced it had agreed to Alonso’s request to cut short his existing contract, which was due to run until the summer of 2026.

The Spaniard, 43, said: ““I owe great thanks to Bayer Leverkusen, my players and staff, all the employees of the club and last but not least the fantastic fans. Our success was the result of an outstanding team performance.

“This club, who showed exceptional trust in me, very much deserved to win the German league title for the first time. My thanks and admiration go to everybody who helped to make this triumph happen including the DFB Pokal win in Berlin.

“Bayer are ready for the future. The positive path will continue and I will be excited to follow it.”

Xabi Alonso will be coming into a Real Madrid side that, on paper, should be dominating domestic and European football. But the reality is that things need to change at the Bernabeu in the coming years - fortunately, Alonso is the perfect man for that job.

Here are the things Alonso needs to do to be a success at Real Madrid, and how that “success” can be measured by fans.

1. Trent Alexander-Arnold, ASAP

Real Madrid’s main weakness all season has been at right-back. Dani Carvajal picked up an ACL injury early on, which has seen him sidelined ever since. In his absence, Lucas Vazquez and Fede Valverde has been sharing defensive duties, with varying success.

But Valverde belongs in the midfield - as I’ll elaborate further on - and Vazquez has not performed to the standard expected of a Real Madrid star. He’s a solid rotation player, both versatile and reliable, but not the superstar Madrid needs.

The rumoured arrival of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, plugs the biggest gap in the starting XI with a genuine world-class player. The idea of getting him in before the Club World Cup (despite potentially having to pay Liverpool for the luxury) would help to embed him into the team earlier too.

2. Fix the midfield

During Alonso’s playing days he had a reputation for dominating the midfield. He could pass the ball like Pirlo, but was still a physical presence like Vieira.

Real Madrid have a dominant attacking line and sturdy defence; the midfield doesn’t necessarily need new personnel, but Alonso needs to stamp his authority on the players he will inherit. Freeing up Valverde is a crucial step in this, as is finding a balance between the likes of Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Arda Guler.

Jude Bellingham is a shoe-in at CAM, with the lethal front three of Rodrygo, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr - so getting the two other midfielders to gel, both defensively and transitioning to the attack, will be vital to Real Madrid’s success.

3. Build consistency

The biggest problem with Real Madrid in the past couple of seasons has been their consistency. Different players will have an “off-game” in different matches, and performances seem to vary depending on which competition they are in.

In just two seasons, Alonso built somewhat of a dynasty at Leverkusen, but their secret was consistency. Instead of destroying teams one week then losing the next, he set them up to win 1-0 or 2-1 repeatedly. From that, the club built a hot streak and would use that as a foundation for the rest of the season.

The measure of success at the Bernabeu is through trophies, and for fans, winning just one is rarely a hallmark of success. Winning LaLiga is practically an expectation from fans, with at least one other piece of silverware - ideally the Champions League.

It’s still a tall order for Alonso, and getting that consistency might take a couple of seasons; Madrid executives will need to be patient and give him the time he needs.