Raul at the crossroads: Tie the future to your beloved club or try Xabi Alonso's recipe?

During the presidency of the legendary Jesus Gil in Atlético Madrid, the controversial businessman and politician decided to dissolve the youth academy in order to reduce costs, not realizing that with that move he would give the hated city rival a player who would acquire cult status at the Bernabéu in the coming decades. The then 15-year-old Raul left the Mattress Makers and went Real Madrid, where he spent the next 18 years and until the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo was the owner of many goalscoring club records.

After finishing his playing career, he started his coaching career and kept himself around Blancos. For five years, he has been working as a strategist for Real Madrid Castilla, which he leads in the third tier of Spanish football. The 46-year-old thinks he is ready to make a breakthrough, he dreams of becoming the A team's new coach one day, but the big question is when that day will come. Therefore he started looking at other scenarios and now Raul is increasingly considering the option that has been offered to him in recent days - the position of Union Berlin's chief of staff.

Ten days ago, 'sad' news arrived from the German capital, the termination of cooperation with Urs Fischer after five and a half years. The departure of the Swiss was inevitable, since his team was defeated in 13 of the last 14 games during his tenure, so he could not be saved even by the fact that, thanks to the results of the previous seasons, he reached the status of the club's most successful coach, among other things, the first in history which brought Union into the Champions League.

In the whole story surrounding Raul's future, a lot connects him with Xabi Alonso. The coach of Bayer Leverkusen in the Spanish media is considered the first favorite to become exactly what Raul aspires to - Carlo Ancelotti's successor from June 2024. Alonso has collected many more references at the top level than Raul in the coaching business, especially if the Pharmacists win the Bundesliga title. On the other hand, the former top scorer of the Champions League, hopes that the club's management could trust him and give him a chance, more as a credit for the success of his playing career, although it is undeniable that he also received praise due to his work in Castilla - even from Ancelotti.

This guy is a phenomenon! Xabi was a world-class player and he's already a world-class coach

If he decides to go to Berlin, he will follow Alonso's path from about a year and a half ago, when he took over Leverkusen as the strategist of Sociedad's B team, which turned out to be a complete success. It is worth pointing out that in the ranks of debutants in the Champions League, he would not have such relief from the result pressure as Alonso had at the beginning of his tenure at the BayArena, taking into account the fact that Union certainly expects a convulsive fight for survival in the top tier of German football. The team is currently second to last with only seven points from 12 games.