Xabi Alonso returns to Madrid in U13 managerial role

Former Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso was announced as the new manager of Infantil A, Real Madrid’s under-13 squad. Xabi has been undergoing a coaching program all year, which concludes with a 12-month youth coaching experience.

Last week, former Real legendary striker Raúl was given the nod as the new coach of Juvenil A, the U16 squad for the club. Xabi Alonso played for 5 years in Madrid, where he won the league in 2011-12 and La Decima in 2014.

With completion of this 12-month coaching gig, Alonso will be eligible to coach at any level. Perhaps he will one day coach Real Madrid if he turns out to be as successful as a manager as he was a player.

Real Madrid placed in Pot 1 ahead of Champions League draw

Tomorrow August 30, or today depending on when you read this, the Champions League draw will take place in Monaco. Real Madrid are in Pot 1, due to them being the current European champions of course.

Real Madrid are joined in Pot 1 by: Atlético, Barcelona, Bayern, Manchester City, Juventus, PSG, and Lokomotiv Moscow. The final Spanish team in the Champions League this year are Valencia, who are in Pot 3.

While we’ll have to wait to see who Real draw, a best case scenario group stage would include: Real Madrid (Pot 1), Shakhtar (Pot 2), PSV (Pot 3), and Viktoria Plzen (Pot 4). We can expect at least one another tough team in the group, Real will have to be comfortable playing anyone in their group especially when the top two clubs move on.

Oh look, another transfer rumor!

No doubt every Real Madrid fan has already heard the news that Mariano has returned to Real Madrid from Lyon. But, there is yet another transfer rumor that is being linked to Real Madrid, this time from the Mirror.

Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling is reportedly on Real Madrid’s wishlist for next summer. After Eden Hazard was repeatedly linked to no avail all summer, now the 23-year-old Sterling is being linked as the newest big signing for Real next year.

The Mirror is even claiming that Real Madrid will be scouting his performance for England when they take on Spain at Wembley Stadium in September.

The Mirror isn’t a very trustworthy, it’s an English tabloid that doesn’t exactly have a great track record of transfers. I do appreciate that they don’t believe Real is signing Sterling in less than two days before the deadline. And it’s highly doubtful Manchester City would even consider letting one of their bigger stars go.

The summer transfer deadline closes on August 31, this Friday. Mariano is likely Real Madrid’s final signing of this window. I think it’s a bit too early to be forecasting what is going to happen next summer with no moves even in line yet.