Zinedine Zidane’s former teammate Thierry Henry has revealed the former’s next destination as a manager, after he quit Real Madrid job last summer. Zidane was in his second stint with the Los Blancos after coming back in 2019, but resigned at the end of the last season after helping the club to a La Liga and Spanish Super Cup title. With that, the Frenchman is yet to return to the fold, but it is now confirmed that he will soon be back on the sidelines as a manager.
Zidane rose to fame as a manager after his glorious first stint at Real Madrid from 2016 to 2018. It ended with Real winning a total of 9 titles in that period, including the famous Champions League three-peat. However, he left at the end of the 2017/18 season, along with club legend Cristiano Ronaldo who joined Juventus. But it was not for longer as after trying two different managers in Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari, Real had to bring back Zidane to bail them out of a difficult situation.
Henry claims Zinedine Zidane eyeing the bigger job
The talks of Zinedine Zidane returning to managerial fold were sparked after his former club Juventus went crashing out of the Champions League this week. The Italian giants’ defeat against Benfica in the group stage meant they will finish third in the Group H now and will go to the Europa League. Pressure is piling upon Max Allegri as Juventus’ season is going from bad to worse, with the Serie A title also out of their sights.
With that, many have tipped Zidane to take over the job in Turin, but Henry has claimed the former Real Madrid manager has different and bigger plans. The former Arsenal striker has revealed Zidane is waiting for the France National Team job, where Didier Deschamps is currently employed. However, the 2018 World Cup winning manager is highly likely to resign from the job post the next month’s World Cup regardless of its outcome for France. And Henry says Zidane is in running to take over, as he told CBS Sports after Juventus’ ousting from the Champions League:
“Zizou [Zidane] won the Champions League, Zizou proved that he can go [to a club like Juventus]. He has proved he can win at a big club. I’m not going to go there [if Zidane could win at Juventus]. I think he’s waiting for the national team [France’. 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. The national team. He 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. He’s been linked to a lot of clubs and it never happened. I don’t think Zizou would want to do it but this is me talking. Maybe he does want to do it. But I can see him waiting for the national team and it would make total sense.”
Zinedine Zidane enjoyed a illustrious club career in management with Real Madrid, lifting 11 title across the two stints. In the first, he was appointed as the successor to Rafa Benitez who was fired in the middle of the 2015/16 season. Zidane, who was at Real Madrid Castilla that season took over from the Italian and steered the club to Champions League triumph. He then successfully defended the title following season, making Real the first club in the history of the UEFA Champions League era to do so.
A third consecutive Champions League title in the 2017/18 season meant the Los Blancos etched their names in the history books by becoming the first club to win three straight Champions League titles as well as the first team to win three consecutive titles in the European Cup/Champions League since Bayern Munich in 1976. He has already proved his mettle of working with a dressing room stacked with stars, and would definitely be Frances’ first-choice for their post-Deschamps era.