Raul stopped short of saying Real Madrid need to appoint a sporting director but accepted it’s an important position in any club.
Los Blancos don’t have anyone overseeing transfers in the way of a Monchi at Sevilla, and in a long interview with AS – in which he discussed how his team would play, Zinedine Zidane as a Coach and Vicente del Bosque – he also championed the role of sporting director.
“Should Madrid have a sporting director? At the moment…that’s a question for the President. I think having a sporting director is important. Someone to facilitate communication between the club and the staff, and to plan. But not only at Madrid, but for all teams,” he admitted.
“It’s a structure I’d always keep. Madrid managed to win the Champions League. But I think it’s necessary for the Coach to be his own man. I like teamwork. And for that we have to have a structure that covers everything and in which there is fluid communication.
“Would the Denis Cheryshev case have not happened with a sporting director? Maybe. If there had been a department for ‘facts’ maybe it wouldn’t have happened. But it could have happened with a sporting director, who knows. What I can say is I believe in that structure, with a sporting director, because it helps the Coach a lot if everyone is on the same page. For a lot of people, they’re not on the same page, so forget it.”
