Real Madrid continue their discontinuity in management with the appointment of Villarreal’s Manuel Pellegrini as the new coach to replace Juande Ramos.
Pellegrini, a 55 year old Chilean, was the longest serving manager in La Liga, having been there for five years. Real are reputed to have paid about €4 million compensation in order to gain his services.
In 2003, Real sacked Vicente del Bosque after he only managed two Champions League and two La Liga titles, and since then, the turnstile at the managerial office has never been in danger of rusting as Carlos Queiroz, Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariana Garcia Remon, Wanderley Luxemburgo, Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, Fabio Capello, Bernd Schuster and Juande Ramos have all been and gone.
There is also a change at the top with Real Madrid, Florentino Perez returning for a second stint as president with Zinedine Zidane as an advisor.
Perez has stated that Brazilian Kaka is his number one target signing, although there is still interest in Ronaldo, Ribery and Alonso.