As the 2025-2026 season draws to a close across Europe, a wave of coaching changes is sweeping the continent. Arsenal’s 1-0 win at home to Burnley Sunday saw them lift the Premier League title a round early after Manchester City’s 1-1 draw away to Bournemouth, ending a 22-year drought of top-flight titles. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta finally transformed into a champion coach, and in the past period of time, many European football giants ushered in the intensive coach changes.
Jose Mourinho at a pre-champions league press conference in Madrid, on October 2,2012.
Arteta’s victory means a lot. At 44 years and 54 days, the Spanish manager is Arsenal’s youngest ever Premier League winner, 124 days younger than George Graham, who won the title in 1988-89, according to the club’s website. Mourinho is the only player in Premier League history to have won the title younger. More importantly, Arteta became the first player to play in the Premier League and win it as manager.
Al Jazeera said he had finally“Come out of Guardiola’s shadow”. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, who has been Arteta’s mentor, made an announcement in the dressing room. Guardiola has told Manchester City players he will step down at the end of the season against Aston Villa F.C. , the Guardian reported Friday. During his 10 years at city, Guardiola won 20 trophies, including six Premier League titles and a treble in the Champions League. He had a year left on his contract, but the Guardian reports that Guardiola has decided to bring this to an early end. City quickly identified a replacement, former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca.
Maresca has agreed a three-year deal in principle with Manchester City, according to the BBC. The 46-year-old Italian coach was Guardiola’s assistant for the 2022-23 season, he went on to lead Leicester City to promotion before taking charge of Chelsea in the summer of 2024, winning the Club World Cup and UEFA Champions League in their only full season and leading them back to the Champions League. The BBC said: “Maresca has the ability to make a ‘seamless’ connection at Manchester City, but taking over from one of the greatest managers of all time is an adventure into the unknown.”
Maresca resigned from Chelsea in a surprise move in January, but the club did not suffer for long. On May 17th it was announced that Xabi Alonso had been appointed the club’s new“Manager” and had signed a four-year deal. According to Sky Sports UK, Alonso was Chelsea’s top target after sacking Rossino, beating the likes of Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola and Fulham’s Marco Silva.
Alonso’s record is dramatic: in 2023-24 he led Bayer Leverkusen unbeaten to their first ever Bundesliga title, a European record of 51 matches. He took over at Real Madrid, only to be sacked seven months later. Sky Sports said: “Chelsea’s decision to give him the title ‘manager’ shows they have finally realised they need someone to run the club, not a ‘manager’ led by a sporting director.”
Manchester United have agreed terms with Michael Carrick, the 44-year-old former midfielder, to become the club’s manager for two years with a one-year extension option. Carrick took over from the sacked Ruben Amorim in January, who was seen as a temporary replacement. But in 15 Premier League matches, he won 10 of them, taking United from outside the European zone to third place and securing a place in the Champions League.
The most startling change has been at Real Madrid. Mourinho has agreed a two-year deal to return to the club, according to ESPN. The 63-year-old Portuguese“Madman” took over Portuguese Super League club Benfica in September last year and Real Madrid will pay Benfica 7 million euros in compensation. Real Madrid sacked Alonso after appointing Alvaro Arbeloa as interim manager, but the team failed to qualify for two consecutive seasons of La Liga and the Champions League major trophy, the dressing room is also out of harmony. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has publicly praised Mourinho for“Improving the competitiveness of Real Madrid” and said he can bring discipline and iron spirit back to the team, ESPN said.
Real Madrid plan to officially announce Jose Mourinho’s return after the league finale at home to Athletic Bilbao, according to ESPN. Perez is also considering adding a special clause to his contract that would allow the new president to opt out of working with Mourinho if a challenger wins the upcoming presidential election, but that hasn’t stopped Perez from pushing for a deal.