Former Evertonian linked to Real Madrid

The largest sports paper in Spain has linked former Everton manager Roberto Martinez to the potential opening at Real Madrid. MARCA, known for their ties to the capital club, has listed Martinez alongside Castilla coach Santiago Solari, as well as Antonio Conte, Laurent Blanc, and Michael Laudrup as candidates for the position.

Now, far be it from me to criticize Real Madrid, because clearly they know what they’re doing in managerial hires (lol), but it seems like hiring a manager with a decent run at the head of a national team and a questionable club record might not be the best move. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what they have now with Lopetegui, but of course the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Real Madrid has had eight managers in the last ten years. It could be argued that only two of them were really successful, as the royal whites focus so heavily on the European crown that only Zidane and Ancelotti were able to capture. In fact, since Vincente Del Bosque left in 2003, they’ve had 14 managers, eight of them won no trophies whatsoever, and not counting Lopetegui, three lasted less than a full year.

The trouble for a club like Real Madrid is that when your standards are so high and you’ve burned through so many managers it becomes hard to find men who are proven at that level. I probably have a higher opinion of Martinez than most Everton fans, but he has given no one any reason to think he can handle a job of this magnitude.

Lopetegui certainly has to go, there’s just too much talent on hand for them to experience the longest scoring drought in club history, and despite this horrific start they are still well within striking distance of Barcelona in La Liga (results of this weekend’s El Clasico pending). But simply jumping right back in with another unproven manager just doesn’t seem to be a very good call.