Well, well, well.
Julen Lopetegui will be the new coach of Real Madrid and will take up his position after the World Cup.
It’s safe to say that no one saw that coming and it’s likely that the RFEF will be furious that the announcement has been made right before the start of the World Cup.
Given the names that appeared to be in the frame - Pochettino, Klopp, Conte et al - were all unavailable or were much too hard to negotiate for, pulling this rabbit out of the hat is a real coup for Florentino Perez and his board.
Lopetegui only signed a new contract (up to 2020) recently, in order to carry on his work with Spain after the World Cup had finished, regardless of how well La Roja had done in the tournament.
At the time of writing, he remains unbeaten in charge with them, and that’s a record that few can argue with.
He’s shown that he’s happy for his players to go out and express themselves and, importantly for Real given the amount of young players they’ve bought recently, he trusts the youngsters.
In many respects Madrid couldn’t have made a better hire in the wake of Zinedine Zidane’s departure.
He will have immediate buy in from the Spaniard’s in the squad, and he’s a high profile enough appointment to keep Cristiano Ronaldo happy.
Though he only ever played for Real’s senior team once, he did coach at the academy a decade ago so is aware how it works at the Santiago Bernabeu.
As a former keeper himself it will be interesting to see if he backs Keylor Navas to the hilt as Zidane did, or whether he agrees with his new paymasters that another high-profile custodian is necessary.
In any event, the positives to his hire far outweigh the negatives. He will need to go some way to match the accomplishments of his predecessor, but he is of sufficient stature to be a worthy successor.
Florentino and his board have to be given immense credit for having the foresight to approach Lopetegui in the first instance and then manage to seal the deal without any media outlets or personnel even getting a sniff of the scoop.
All that remains now is for him to transmit his nous and way of working from the international stage to club level, and only the most pessimistic Madridista will believe he doesn’t have the tools to do the same.
Zidane will soon be a distant memory.
