Ten Real Madrid academy players ready to follow Arbeloa to his next club

Alvaro Arbeloa will leave Real Madrid this summer having confirmed his exit before the final match of the 2025-26 season, but the outgoing head coach is taking something valuable with him — the loyalty of a group of academy players he brought into the first team.

According to Marca, ten players are tracking Arbeloa’s next move and would be keen to reunite with him: Gonzalo Garcia, Thiago Pitarch, César Palacios, Manuel Ángel, Jorge Cestero, Daniel Yáñez, Diego Aguado, Jesus Fortea, David Jiménez and Manu Serrano. Real Madrid are understood to be open to selling each of them permanently, retaining influence over their futures through contractual clauses.

Arbeloa, 43, took charge at the Bernabéu in January after Xabi Alonso’s departure and endured a turbulent spell marked by a trophy drought and significant dressing-room unrest. Yet his decision to lean on Castilla graduates during the second half of the season earned him genuine goodwill among those younger players, even as his overall tenure drew criticism.

Real Madrid’s willingness to move the academy players on permanently follows the model the club has already used with the likes of Nico Paz and Jacobo Ramon — outright sales that generate immediate revenue while allowing the club to retain a degree of control through sell-on and buy-back clauses. That approach is seen internally as more commercially sound than loan arrangements.

For Arbeloa, landing a job this summer that comes with a ready-made group of players familiar with his methods could prove a significant asset as he looks to rebuild his managerial reputation. He acknowledged publicly that operating at the Bernabéu left him limited room to impose his own ideas, and his next role is expected to offer him greater autonomy.