Real Madrid legend Raul is currently the manager of the Castilla side, and he has now rejected the chance to become a head coach elsewhere.
The former striker was on the verge of leaving to take the Villarreal role a month ago, before the Yellow Submarine opted to hire Pacheta instead.
The Spaniard has been Castilla manager since 2019, and has been touted as a possible successor to Carlo Ancelotti.
He has now rejected an offer to take up a managerial role at German club Schalke, whom he joined to finish his playing career after leaving Real Madrid over a decade ago.
Raul rejects Schalke
A report from AS has now claimed that Raul is focused on his job at Castilla, and is uninterested in a move away right now, possibly because he is anticipating a departure for Ancelotti this summer.
He was reportedly interested in the Villarreal job when he became a candidate, but now has no intention to return to Schalke, who are currently in the second division.
Schalke have been in a crisis on and off the pitch for a few years, suffering relegation twice in the last three years, having been a Champions League club during Raul’s time there.
Perhaps the nature of the job at Schalke was not an ideal one for Raul to make his managerial bow in.
Waiting for the big job?
Raul is among the names considered as Ancelotti’s successor, but with Xabi Alonso impressing at Bayer Leverkusen, it seems that the former attacker may be low in the pecking order despite his years as Castilla coach.
Raul wants to achieve promotion to the second division with Castilla, despite losing some of the academy’s best players in the summer such as Sergio Arribas, and he may believe that success within Real Madrid could see him follow a similar route to Zinedine Zidane in becoming manager.
El Capitan may be right to reject the Schalke job given the chaos there, but if he is not in line to take over from Ancelotti this summer, then he should consider moving on to a different role to test his credentials as a senior manager.