A West Ham flop who celebrated Slaven Bilic’s sacking is now astonishingly being tipped to be the new Real Madrid boss.
As West Ham flops go they don’t come much bigger than Alvaro Arbeloa.
Spanish defender Arbeloa arrived at West Ham with a wealth of experience from Real Madrid having won the Champions League and the World Cup for Spain.
And he was on wages to match, earning a reported £80k per week at the London Stadium.
But the former Liverpool star suffered a nightmare spell at West Ham, making just four appearances. If the salary claims were accurate then that means Arbeloa cost the Hammers a whopping £960k per appearance.
On arriving at the club, Arbeloa said he was impressed with the stadium and was excited at the prospect of working under then Hammers boss Slaven Bilic.
“The stadium is amazing,” Arbeloa told West Ham’s website at the time.
“It’s really nice and looks fantastic. Hopefully I’m going to see the stadium full with all our fans and I’m really happy to be here.
“For me, this is a great chance to be back in England and in the Premier League, which is a fantastic league and I want to put myself here again. This is a big club and a great Club with fantastic players and a great coach.
“Slaven wants to see me training as soon as possible. I was talking with [Croatia internationals] Luka Modric and Matteo Kovacic and they told me good things about the coach, so I want to work with him and hopefully I can learn a lot of things.”
West Ham flop who celebrated Slaven Bilic’s sacking is now astonishingly being tipped to be the new Real Madrid boss
Things would turn sour between Arbeloa and Bilic, though.
The Spaniard retired after his single season at West Ham. And when the Hammers sacked Bilic halfway through the following season, Arbeloa did not hold back on social media.
And now there is shock talk of Arbeloa becoming manager of one of the biggest clubs in world football.
The West Ham flop who celebrated Bilic’s sacking is now astonishingly being tipped to be the new Real Madrid boss.
“Better late than never,” Arbeloa said in response to confirmation West Ham had sacked Bilic back in November 2017.
He may view those harsh comments differently now he is trying to be a manager in his own right.
Arbeloa is chasing the treble with Real Madrid’s U19s having led them to league and Copa Del Rey titles.
And Football Espana claim the former West Ham man is so highly-rated at Real Madrid that he is one of the names being considered to replace Carlo Ancelotti in the summer.
The report claims the club hierarchy very much see Arbeloa being Real Madrid manager in the not too distant future even if he doesn’t take over from Ancelotti at the end of the season.
A penny for the thoughts of Bilic who, for all his faults towards the end of his Hammers tenure, did not deserve such cold-hearted celebration of his demise from a former player.
Ironically it would be David Moyes who took over from Bilic. And his future in his second spell at the club is seriously in question heading into the summer.
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