Thierry Henry has already confirmed that Zinedine Zidane wants to manage the France national team despite fresh links to Manchester United.
Zidane played a starring role as a player in helping Les Bleus to glory at back-to-back tournaments, winning the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. Taking charge of his old club Real Madrid in 2016, the former midfield magician became the first manager to win the Champions League three times in a row.
But Zidane has been out of work since the end of his second stint at the Santiago Bernabeu in May 2021. His name has been linked with a number of different clubs since then, including his former side, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, and United.
The 52-year-old was linked to the Red Devils job as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ’s potential replacement – and his name has emerged once more as a successor to Erik ten Hag following the Dutchman’s sacking.
While doubts have been cast over Zidane ever managing in England due to the language barrier, he himself said “ never say never ” back in 2022. But his former international team-mate and Premier League icon Henry insisted at the time that Zidane had his heart set on another job.
While Zidane was being linked with Juventus, Henry confirmed that the in-demand manager was waiting on the sidelines to take over the France national team from Didier Deschamps.
Henry told CBS Sports: “I’m not going to go there, I think he is waiting for the national team. So I’m not going to go there. I don’t think he will go there [Juventus]. I think he is waiting for one thing and one thing only and that’s the national team.
“You won three Champions Leagues with Real Madrid, why are you going to bother with other clubs when you can have the national team? I wouldn’t.”
Pressed on whether he knew if the France job would be available in the coming months, he added: “I don’t actually know but Zizou has been waiting. He’s been linked with a lot of clubs and it never happened. I don’t think Zizou would want to do it, I can see him waiting for the national team and it makes total sense.”
Sadly for Zidane, he continues to wait for his dream gig, with Deschamps managing France at two major tournaments since Henry’s comments – the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the Euros this past summer. Deschamps has managed Les Bleus since 2012, an unusually long time in modern international football, winning the World Cup in 2018 and losing in the 2022 final. He also has a contract to remain France's boss until at least 2026.
Zidane, who has also recently been linked with the Saudi Arabia job following Roberto Mancini's sacking, is not the only high-profile name being mentioned as a possible successor to Ten Hag. Another La Liga legend also reportedly in the frame for the United job is Barcelona hero Xavi, who managed the Catalan giants until the summer.
Xavi has emerged as one of the early favourites following news of Ten Hag's dismissal on Monday. Sir Jim Ratcliffe had been under pressure to axe Ten Hag weeks ago following their worst start to a season and has now finally acted after the weekend's 2-1 defeat against West Ham left them languishing in 14th.
United have unveiled their new adidas home kit with new front-of-shirt sponsors for the 2024/25 season - and you can get your hands on it right now.
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