Zinedine Zidane ‘demanded’ that Manchester United sign four players if he was to join the club as manager, it was reported – with the club eventually doing a deal for one of them.
Prior to his second departure from Real Madrid in 2021, Zidane was frequently linked to the position of United manager.
Before the Dutchman was fired in November, he was the front-runner to succeed Erik ten Hag at different points in time.
In the end, the club hired Ruben Amorim, and Zidane is still unemployed.
A ‘preliminary agreement’ has reportedly been reached for him to take Jose Mourinho’s position at Fenerbahce, according to a Turkish newspaper.
Because of the linguistic barrier, Zidane has previously ruled out relocating to England.
The Turkish powerhouses were ousted from this season’s Champions League after suffering an unexpected aggregate loss to Benfica.
Although he can understand English, the France midfielder admitted to L’Equipe in 2022 that he hasn’t mastered the language. He speaks fluent French and Spanish.
When it comes to club management, Zidane told L’Equipe that his second main worry is if the team is capable of winning championships.
The Daily Mirror claims that the Frenchman had a list of four potential transfers in case he was called upon to take over for the struggling Mourinho at Old Trafford in 2018.
Zidane had managed three of them or they had faced him in La Liga.
The first of those was James Rodriguez, who was then on loan from Real Madrid to Bayern Munich before joining Everton in the Premier League two years later.
The second was Toni Kroos, who disclosed that just before the Scot was fired and Louis van Gaal took his place in 2014, he was on the verge of agreeing to sign with United under David Moyes.
The third player was Thiago Alcantara, a midfielder with Bayern Munich at the time who had previously played for Barcelona before joining Liverpool in the summer of 2020.
Edinson Cavani, Zidane’s fourth target, was the only player to join Old Trafford during his playing career.
He left Paris Saint-Germain in 2020 and secured a free move to United.
The striker scored 17 goals across all competitions in his first season, but he only scored twice in his second, and the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo cut into his playing time. In 2022, he later joined Valencia.
Cavani, who is 38 years old, is still playing with Boca Juniors of the Argentine Premier Division.
Despite missing Boca’s first two Club World Cup group stage games, the Uruguayan started the team’s 1-1 tie with Auckland City, which led to the Argentine powerhouses’ elimination from the tournament.
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