Real Madrid's season in quickly deciding into farce, and they look like a club that is in need of a major shakeup. Having won the Champions League for three years on the trot, few could have predicted a demise to the degree that we have seen so far in the current campaign.
But should we really be so surprised? The club went through a few major changes in the summer, pretty much all of which have had a negative affect, with the departures of manager Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo are the most obvious.
The result against Ajax in midweek has seen a number of Los Blancos supporters call for the head of club president Florentino Perez, and they certainly won't be happy after seeing a tweet from his predecessor Roman Calderon.
The former Madrid president took to social media to reveal the three pieces that Zidane gave to Perez before leaving the club, all of which were ignored.
He warned about what was coming when the President did not follow his advices. He did not want a goalie, considered imperative to keep Cristiano and thought it was convenient to change Bale. Just the opposite was done. The results are well known. pic.twitter.com/abIqo4u3bu
— Ramón Calderón (@rcalderonorg) March 7, 2019
- Keep Keylor Navas as the club's number one goalkeeper.
- Keep Cristiano Ronaldo at all costs
- Sell Gareth Bale
Of course, none of that advice was followed. Thibaut Courtois was signed from Chelsea to become number one, and has enjoyed a thoroughly disastrous campaign thus far. He was up to his usual tricks on Tuesday night, having a nightmare for Ajax's clinching fourth goal.
Ronaldo would move to Juventus, with his relationship with Perez broken beyond repair. They had been on a collision course for a couple of years, and the Portuguese superstar felt it was time to move on.
Perez also refused to part way with Gareth Bale, a player who seems to hold in a much higher regard than everyone else at the club. The Welshman has cut an increasingly frustrated figure in the Spanish capital this season, and not selling the player is quickly starting to look like a mistake.
It is not certain if Zidane gave this advice having already confirmed that he was leaving the club, or if ignoring this advice was a factor in his decision to resign. Either way, it seems that Florentino Perez has a lot to answer for.
