Deschamps’ trap at Real Madrid… Has Pérez bowed to the dressing room’s authority?

Real Madrid are experiencing a period of tactical confusion not seen at the ‘White Castle’ for many years. After Xabi Alonso’s departure last January—when his disciplined system failed to take root—the club installed Álvaro Arbeloa as a stopgap, exposing a deep rift in the club’s philosophy.

Under the headline “Real is no longer Real Madrid”, journalist Juan Ignacio Gallardo summarised the crisis in Marca: the fans see a team lacking spirit, tactically adrift, and helpless even against sides such as Girona.

Gayardo argues that the problem is not the players but a lack of “authority”: Alonso departed after clashing with Vinícius Júnior over the coach’s insistence that the stars fulfil defensive duties they were unwilling to accept.

Arbeloa’s appointment underlined this shift: no coach now dares to bench Mbappé, Vinícius or Bellingham, even when Arda Güler or Ibrahim Díaz are in peak form.

That’s where Didier Deschamps comes in. According to ‘RMC Sport’, Florentino Pérez views the French coach as the ideal candidate to handle the club’s ‘French contingent’—Mbappé, Tchouaméni, Camavinga and Mendy.

His close ties with this group are said to be key to Madrid’s interest; Madrid is not seeking a tactical innovator to rebuild the system; instead, it wants a “firefighter manager” capable of creating a comfortable environment for Mbappé, whose arrival has disrupted the team’s plans and for whom no coach has yet found the right formula to pair him effectively with Vinicius.

Yet the move also prompts a daunting question: is Real Madrid now being run from the dressing room? If the reports of a deal with Deschamps are true, it would signal a clear victory for the players’ influence over the board, and an admission that the club has succumbed to a policy of “pampering the stars” at the expense of the collective.

By nature, Deschamps manages talent and defuses crises rather than designing revolutionary tactics, making him the ideal choice for stars who prefer not to implement demanding defensive plans or make lengthy runs.

Off the pitch, the club’s power structure remains unstable. Behind the scenes, a worrying leadership split has emerged.

While José Ángel Sánchez remains a powerful presence, Anas Al-Gharari has now stepped into the frame as Pérez’s de facto right-hand man, despite holding no formal title.

This duality clouds sporting decisions and makes the appointment of a ‘sporting director’ an urgent necessity—a move the club still publicly rejects, preferring to cling to past glories while the present stagnates.

Deschamps’s approach revives a outdated managerial model that entrusts star players with authority, requiring the coach to simply avoid disrupting the Galácticos.

Such an approach might yield occasional silverware when backed by a solid defence and midfield, yet it falls short of fostering true, sustainable dominance.

President Florentino Pérez must acknowledge that the current strike partnership of Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jr has yet to fit the system, and their neglected defensive duties leave the team exposed.

So long as the club keeps hiring managers who pamper stars instead of imposing a clear tactical identity, it will keep relying on the “comeback culture” that cannot be counted on forever.

Real Madrid now faces a crossroads: cave in to the dressing room by hiring Deschamps and preserving the status quo, or return to its roots by appointing a genuine “project coach”—someone with total tactical authority, like Jürgen Klopp, should he accept.

Without that, the Bernabéu will keep simmering, and the big-name signings will remain a tactical burden until a leader brave enough to say “no” arrives.