Real Madrid News
Arsenal legend claims he turned down chance to become Real Madrid manager
Former Arsenal manager and club legend Arsene Wenger has claimed that he had a chance to coach Real Madrid in the past but he turned it down.
Regarded as one of the greatest managers in the modern era, Wenger spent almost his entire career at Arsenal, having been at the club for 22 years between 1996 and 2018.
During this time, Wenger had been approached by other clubs, but he remained at Arsenal until retirement.
Now, the Frenchman, who works as the Director of Development for FIFA, has revealed that one of the clubs who approached him were Real Madrid, but he turned down their approach.
Apart from Real Madrid, the legendary Frenchman also confirmed to have turned down overtures from clubs like Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus while also rejecting approaches from France and England national teams.
“I turned Real Madrid down, I turned Juventus down, I turned Paris Saint-Germain down,” Wenger told beIn Sports.
“I turned the English national team down, the French national team down. At the end of the day, I believe that I did what was important to me in my life. After, you have to let people judge what you do. I was in a public job, but my conscience was clear and my way to act and to behave was clear.”
It is unclear when Real Madrid made an approach to try and hire Wenger, but things did not work out for the Merengues in their bid to appoint the Frenchman.
The former Arsenal manager spoke about Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League semi-final tie against Manchester City before the first leg and claimed that the Premier League side had an advantage.
With the tie poised at 1-1 after the first leg, it remains to be seen if Wenger’s prediction comes true or whether Real Madrid can progress to the finals.
According to AS, Real Madrid have sent a three-year contract offer with improved wages to Dani Ceballos and trust that the midfielder will continue at the club.
Ceballos is the last among the seven Los Blancos’ stars who entered the 2022/23 season with an expiring contract whose future is yet to be resolved.
Mariano Diaz, Marco Asensio, and Karim Benzema have all left Real Madrid while Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Nacho Fernandez are all set to continue at the Santiago Bernabeu for one more year.
As such, Ceballos remains the only player whose future remains unclear at this point.
The 26-year-old Spanish international has shown that he can offer value to the team and the club and manager Carlo Ancelotti are understood to ‘love’ him and want to retain his services.
Fans, too, made their feelings about the midfielder very clear this past weekend when Real Madrid played Athletic Club, as they chanted ‘Ceballos, stay!’
The Merengues have sent in a three-year proposal to the former Real Betis ace which includes an improvement in his wages. As such, the club expect him to pen the deal and continue at the Santiago Bernabeu.
However, Ceballos is yet to make a decision as he is weighing up the fact that he will have to compete for a place with six other midfielders.
Indeed, Real Madrid already have Kroos, Modric, Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, and Aurelien Tchouameni as competition for Ceballos. Now, they will also add Jude Bellingham to the roster, further amping up the battle for places.
Ceballos has two more offers apart from the one from Real Madrid – one from Spain and Italy each, although his former club Real Betis have not sent a proposal yet.
With the season over and less than three weeks left on his contract, it remains to be seen what the Real Madrid ace decides.
