Alvaro Arbeloa, the man Jose Mourinho replaced in the Real Madrid dugout, has broken cover in England to declare that his heart never left Chamartin, and to point at the Portuguese now running the team as a reason he follows Los Blancos more closely than ever.
Alvaro Arbeloa: “I am a Madridista and I always will be”
Arbeloa, now head coach at Fulham, features in the opening episode of the new season of DAZN’s Premier Corner, as reported by Marca, and the conversation ranged across his arrival in English football and, inevitably, the job he lost in June.
He did not dodge the self-criticism. “Coaching Madrid was a huge learning experience and a great experience,” he said. “I would have liked it to have gone better, for the club and for the fans, but things happened the way they happened.”
Then came the line that will travel. “I will always be grateful to Madrid. I am a Madridista and I always will be. Even more so now that, on top of everything, I have a friend on the bench managing the team.” The friend is Mourinho, who was appointed in June and took charge in July, replacing Arbeloa himself — a succession that could easily have curdled and, on this evidence, has not.
“Madrid is the club of my life,” he added. “I will watch every one of their matches. I am here thanks to Madrid. It has been more than 20 years involved with this club and it is something I will always carry inside me.”
Why Fulham keep shopping in La Fabrica
The affection is not purely sentimental. Asked about the profile of player he wants at Craven Cottage, Arbeloa described a type that sounded very familiar: “I like players who want to learn, who want to work, and who demand a lot of themselves.”
Two names fit the mould exactly, and both of them are already his. Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacios moved from Real Madrid to Fulham this summer in deals Marca reports were worth around €50 million to the Spanish club. “They are two players with immense talent, who share that personality, that self-demand and that ambition I want in young players like them,” Arbeloa said of the pair he knows well from his years in the Madrid academy.
Gonzalo has scored in each of his last two matches for Fulham, and Madridistas have every reason to keep watching — as we covered this week, Real Madrid retain a significant sell-on interest in him. Every goal he scores in England is, in a small way, a Madrid asset appreciating.
Where the Bernabeu draws the line
There is a limit to how far the old loyalty stretches, though, and Arbeloa found it this week. Marca reports that Fulham have abandoned their pursuit of Thiago Pitarch after Real Madrid refused even to open negotiations. At Valdebebas they know exactly what the young midfielder is worth.
Pitarch is in the closing stages of a recovery from an injury picked up after Spain’s Under-19 European Championship win in Wales, a problem that will have kept him out for close to two months and prevented him from settling into Mourinho’s group. Rather than sanction a sale, the coach intends to use him this season, with the midfielder initially splitting appearances between the first team and Castilla to rebuild his fitness.
Fulham have turned instead to Manuel Angel, another Castilla midfielder Arbeloa handed opportunities to late last season. Cadiz are also in that race, so it is not a straightforward one.
A friendship that suits everyone
For Real Madrid, this is a tidy arrangement. A former coach who still calls the Bernabeu home is running a Premier League club that keeps buying their academy graduates at healthy fees, with sell-on protection attached, and is publicly rooting for the team every weekend.
Mourinho, meanwhile, has made a strong start to his own tenure — a 2-1 win at Espanyol followed by a 4-1 dismantling of Real Sociedad on his Bernabeu return, with Malaga up next. Arbeloa says he will be watching. On current form, he will enjoy it more than most departed managers do.
