Jose Mourinho doesn't dispense praise to easily to employees of Real Madrid who laboured (or rather didn't) under his direction.
Alvaro Arbeloa, however, was honoured as one of the seven players who gave everything they could to Mourinho's teams, throughout the Portuguese's entire managerial career.
Arbeloa, now 32, has operated at left and right back for Madrid since returning from Liverpool in the summer of 2009. Arberloa is a veteran of the mid-to-late Benitez period when it looked like Liverpool had created a team capable of making a sustained challenge for the title. During his two years at Anfield, he had a famous on-field altercation with Jamie Carragher.
The Sunday Times report that with Madrid's signing of Danilo, Arbeloa has fallen down the pecking order at the Bernabeu. He could be back in the Premier League and West Ham are sniffing around.
The paper report that he is regarded as an experienced option on either side of the defence and may come in for Carl Jenkinson whose initial loan spell from Arsenal looks to be over.