Pros and cons of Carlo Ancelotti returning to Real Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti is in talks over a return to Real Madrid, as confirmed by Fabrizio Romano. The Italian has been approached by President Florentino Perez regarding initial talks, and an agreement is yet to be reached. 

However, sources such as Marca indicate that he could be announced as the new Real Madrid manager as soon as today. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of Don Carlo returning to the Real Madrid bench at this point in time. 

Pros

The Italian knows the club well and knows the way things work on the white side of Madrid. Moreover, he is a proven winner, having led the club to La Decima and is appreciated by the fans as well. His success has been wide and varied, achieving silverware with Chelsea, AC Milan and Bayern Munich. 

His experience of managing big egos also gives him an edge over the other candidates. And considering Real Madrid’s ambitions of always winning, that will be important no matter who takes charge of the club. Some of the players who have flourished under him include Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Robert Lewandowski, James Rodriguez and Riccardo Kaka. 

He relies on youth as well and is something that Madrid need to do right now. However, that is a double-edged sword, as we find out in the next section. 

Cons

While Ancelotti is responsible for bringing through the likes of Kaka and Buffon as youngsters, he also kept Joshua Kimmich to the bench at Bayern Munich. This ties into his priorities of winning above all else, and the Italian prefers not to rotate the squad too much. 

This was highlighted in his last spell at Madrid, wherein a lot of players had to endure numerous injuries throughout the season and also at his current club, Everton. This could be a problem, since Real Madrid had an injury-plagued 20/21 season, and that caused all sorts of problems. 

Hence, Ancelotti will have to try and rotate the squad and give young players a chance to establish the new cycle and help the next generation come through while maintaining the standards of Los Merengues.