Despite his contract running till 2022, Zizou’s second successful stint at the club has been widely acclaimed across Europe. The former Galactico has been heavily linked with jobs in England and Italy every summer.
The 2020-21 campaign has been quite noisy for Los Merengues. A hectic schedule stoked with a number of injuries to their star players – plummeted their form early in this season. As a result, they had to confront harsh criticism often, from both media and fans alike.
According to sources close to the club, Zidane is exhausted from handling situations beyond his control. The complicated COVID-19 protocols imposed by La Liga, major injuries to core members of the squad before big matches and the constant unwarranted criticism reportedly annoyed the French tactician throughout the year.
The situation turned sour after Madrid’s disappointing collapse to Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final. Some of the club’s icons have apparently started to withdraw their support due to Zidane’s trust in fringe players in big games, reports Goal. The fact that Marcelo and Isco are unsettled at the club exhibit the slow decay of the bond between the manager and his players.
Reports also claim that Zidane, who loves training his men through a hands-on approach, was denied such duties due to Covid-19 restrictions and that the World Cup winner was ‘bored’ by this change in the past twelve months.
But people in charge at the Bernabeu are confident that they can retain him for the final 12 months of his contract. Zidane, though have been vague about his future at the club,
“We’ll see,”
“You don’t know anything. When you’ve said there’s a need to get rid of Zidane in the past. Well, I’m here.”
“I don’t know what will happen in three months or a year. I’m here and we have a game this weekend.”
he said in April.
As of now, Zidane remains at the helm for the final four games of the season, and it is understood that he is eager to take up the France post at some stage in his career.
Should Didier Deschamps resign after the European Championship this year or after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 48-year-old is the clear favourite to replace him – given his unsettling condition at the Spanish capital.
“The day Didier decides to leave or his contract is not renewed, if Zidane is available at that time, he will be the man for the job,”
FFF president Noel Le Graet said in an interview.
No matter what he decides, Florentino Perez and his board will have to respect Zidane’s decision as numerous alternatives are already being mulled over should he leave at the end of the season.
Real legend Raul Gonzalez has been touted as Zidane’s successor. The former Spain international has already honed his skills in management with Real Madrid’s academy team Castilla since 2019. If promoted as the senior squad head coach, Raul will follow the exact same path as Zinedine Zidane took in 2017.
Although it is early days to speculate, Raul has a clear knowledge about the ideology of his boyhood club and has been grooming himself for the post with some top-notch performances with the youth team. Under his spell, Castilla won the league title without suffering a defeat throughout the season while they also lifted the UEFA Youth League last year, much to president Perez’s relief.
