Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez has been part of the youth setup at Real Madrid for the last six years, but this will be his last season in charge of Real Madrid Castilla.
The 47-year-old started out with the under-19s, but moved up quickly to the Castilla side after winning the UEFA Youth League, and at one point was even considered as a potential candidate to take over the senior job.
That talk has died down significantly though, and Marca say that Real Madrid have informed him that this is his last year that he will be in charge of Castilla. Raul has come close to promotion on a couple of occasions from the third tier, but after a mediocre season last year, and with Castilla currently in the relegation zone, there has been little sign of improvement.
It is his sixth season in charge of Castilla, and few players have made it to the first team, although in no small part due to Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane’s lack of interest in using younger players. Raul will be given the option to take on a more office-based role at the academy, or the other potential option available to him is joining the coaching staff in the first team. He has an excellent relationship with Carlo Ancelotti, and the Italian has been calling for more reinforcements in his coaching staff.
More so than the results of Castilla, one of the key factors in the move is potentially Alvaro Arbeloa. He is seen as a potential first-team manager at some point by the club, after good results with the under-17s and now under-19s. He will take over from Raul next summer, in a move that some had expected to happen sooner.
Of course the third avenue for Raul could be to leave Los Blancos, and pursue a career elsewhere. There have been frequent links to other jobs in Germany, especially former side Schalke, and other teams in Spain too. Raul was interviewed by Villarreal and Espanyol in 2024 and 2023, but was ultimately passed over.