Will Perez give Pellegrini the time and support he needs at Real Madrid?

Real Madrid’s returning President, Florentino Perez, promised the Madrid faithful a truly great manager to take the team forward. Rumours abounded around Arsene Wenger, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho as likely candidates to replace Juande Ramos. In actual fact they have appointed Villarreal boss Manuel Pellegrini as their new coach.

Eighth coach

Pellegrini, who becomes the Spanish giants’ eighth coach in five years, has spent five seasons with Villarreal, enjoying a decent amount of comparative success. Since coach Vicente del Bosque was sacked by Perez in 2003 after winning two Champions Leagues and two league titles, the club have seen Carlos Queiroz, Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariana Garcia Remon, Wanderley Luxemburgo, Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, Fabio Capello, Schuster and Ramos come and go.

The fifty-five year old Pellegrini was the longest-serving coach in La Liga, where he moved from Argentina after spells in charge of San Lorenzo and River Plate. Real have paid Villarreal a reported four million euros in compensation for the services of Pellegrini.

The appointment was confirmed on the Real Madrid website by the following simple statement,

“Real Madrid and Manuel Pellegrini have reached a deal for the Chilean coach to be the first team head coach during the forthcoming season.”

Juande Ramos may have had a chance to stay on as manager if his temporary spell in charge had been deemed to be a success. Unfortunately for him, second place in La Liga some nine points behind Barcelona and an early exit from the Champions League to Liverpool 5-0 on aggregate, added up to a disappointing season.

Acclaimed

Whilst the return of Perez has been given a pretty warm welcome by most fans of the club and the arrival of the great Zinedine Zidane as an advisor has been universally acclaimed, the arrival of Pellegrini may invoke a slightly more mixed response.

At Villarreal, on a shoestring budget, Pellegrini has achieved a win percentage of nearly 50%. In his first season he took them to third in La Liga and the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. Season two saw them finish seventh but also reach the Champions League semi-finals. The next two seasons saw fifth and second place finishes in the league and another Champions League quarter-final which saw defeat against Arsenal.

Impressive

It is certainly an impressive record that Pellegrini has put together at Villarreal and he may just be the man to give the ‘normality and stability’ to the club that it so desperately needs. On the other hand, we know Perez loves big name players and one wonders if Pellegrini is likely to attract the likes of Kaka, Ribery, Alonso, Ronaldo, Villa, Silva and Benzema.

The Real Madrid name may still be enough to attract the top players and the top players may also see that Pellegrini has a decent pedigree.

Respected

Certainly Pellegrini is one of the most respected coaches in Spain and he has the air of discipline and authority that Real Madrid are crying out for. The discipline that Pep Guardiola brought to Barcelona had a dramatic effect on them and Perez will be hoping for a similar effect at The Bernabeu.

For me, Pellegrini is an excellent appointment for Madrid. He is a proven coach with excellent man management skills, an ability to get the best out of the players he manages and the ability to find something in seemingly older or underrated players.

Dramatic

If he is given the time, I have no doubt that he can make a dramatic impact at Real Madrid. However, as with Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, the if is a very big if.

Pellegrini will need to be given the budget to completely overhaul the defensive side of his team and he will need to be given the time for his new side to settle in and play the way he wants them to play.

I just wonder what will happen to Pellegrini if he finds his side six or seven points behind Barcelona, the undisputed best team in Europe, at Christmas?