Zinadine Zidane leaves Real Madrid

I got to say, this came as a huge shock to me! What do you guys think? Who's next in line?

The favorites are announced to take over Real Madrid. It'll be Wenger or Pochettino.

Yes unexpected. But I heard Wenger is available ;)

What the hell happened? :O

This came as a HUGE shock...

I can only guess the reasons.

• He isn't ready to build a full legacy (which he has already done in term of European competition), and want to have a bit of break.
• He is not as motivated anymore and a bit out of idea for the current squash and carry on my damage his image for the club.
• Disagreement in management and coming years project.

His campaign at Real has been a great success so far. But not yet domestically and in all fairness still be hind Barca in that term. However, to a lot, CL is more important.

Im really curious now.

Maybe he wants a new challenge... Or if he rests a year or so, could be because he is exhausted... like Pep after his last year with Barca

Some quotes from his conference in English here:

Zidane: "After three years it is difficult to keep coaching, above all having won three Champions Leagues. And I did not see so clear that we would win again."

Zidane: "I'm not going to coach another team right now. I'm not looking for another team.”

Zidane: “The worst moment was losing against Leganés in the return leg in the Copa del Rey.”

Zidane was asked if decision has anything to do with Cristiano’s 'crisis' - “No, not at all.”

Zidane: "Winning the league for me was the maximum. The worst moment is the defeat against Leganés, in the second leg of the Copa del Rey."

Zinedine Zidane: "The players did not influence my decision to leave Real Madrid."

Zidane: "I'm not going to manage another team now. Sergio Ramos wished me luck. He said he respects my decision. I have told him what he means to Madrid and it has been a pleasure."

Step out while you are considered amazing and avoid being mocked for failing for a season. That's my view on it. He's unmotivated to carry on the job and by their la liga forma you can tell Real were poor. CL saved their season but they were far from being the very best they could be.

Interesting what happens next. Ronaldo and bale could be leaving so I'm guessing Perez solution will be to throw money like no tomorrow to get good replacements. Including recruiting a very good coach.

Every other European team will be happy that they might finally start winning CL again.

So first off:

This is exactly what Real didn't need for me. What a deception. :( Zidane was the manager which motivated the player the best in Real, no matter who they get to replace him, it will be a lot harder to get the player performing like he did. I mean, I'm not saying thats a bad move from him, he is a perfectionist and he know he didn't do a good job in La Liga, that his saving grace was CL, but damn it. 3 CL in a row Zidane, you made history once again, so why. :( Sorry for that, its just, hard to come back from the shock.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure Pochettino isn't moving anywhere, he signed a new contract with Tottenham something like a week or 2 ago. So that leave Wenger if they really want to go with a manager who is free. Well technically, they could also go with Blanc (the guy seem like he would get along well with CR7). As for manager still in contract, there is Conte and who know, they might be able to attract Allegri.

Big transition phase for Real no doubt, especially with the fact CR7 and Bale might want to leave in the summer, propably 1 of them will at least now...

Didn't expect this, but then again, why aren't I surprised? Winning 3 consecutive CL trophies would set tremendous expectations on Zidane if he were to continue. Perfect time pass his suit to the Chinese dry cleaners and look elsewhere to build experience.

In regards to his successor, papers are saying Sarri should take over. I know he did well with Napoli, but I'm still not convinced that he's good enough to manage a club like RM. What about Conte? Would be a strong candidate if Abramovich sacks him for Sarri next season. Another good and proven option is Low, who would probably like another challenge after the World Cup (maybe).

Last but not least, the elephant in the room is obviously Wenger. I doubt it, he's not the type to manage big personalities, and he says that he wants a "challenge" in the papers, which is fair. Shamrock Rovers confirmed.

In all seriousness, the only safe option I can think of (and what I've read online) is Guti, who is currently their U19s coach. Extremely underrated player he was back in his days, shame he was in the same generation as Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, etc. Next appointment should be interesting regardless because there aren't that many good candidates to choose from currently.

Edit: Just adding one more to the list, Laudrup doesn't sound too shabby either. Ex RM player (legend of a player), and plenty of international experience in management. Wouldn't be a bad short term option.

Looks like it could be Pochettino, I do not want to see Wenger near Real Madrid in my lifetime. Although, the one I would love to see at Madrid would be Joachim Low or Jurgen Klopp. Klopp is too busy building history with Liverpool and Low got World Cup but after that is over I could see it happening.

@Yvan21 Pochettino just signed a new contract so I doubt it. Can see Low signing if Real is ready to wait until after world cup for him, otherwise, it would be quite ironic to see Jurgen who just lost against Real in CL being named their new manager. Doesn't seem realist to me but I would sure love it.

Apparently, the manager Real want the most is Pochettino and Marca are the saying the reason he could actually come would be that he made a clause in his new contract that would let him leave in case Real would come for him. This sound like wishy washy thinking if you want my opinion.

Edit: By the way, I can just imagine all the manager who signed with a team already or signed a contract extension facepalming and thinking that they should have waited. XD

@Emobot yea I heard reports about that clause but I also read other sources that negated the existence of such clause, so ultimately I'm calling bs on that and saying there is no clause. Like you say, it'll be difficult prying him away from Tottenham having just signed an extension in his contract, and we know Levy is a tough negotiator as well. I'm not too hyped about Pochettino, but if he can convince players like Eriksen or Kane to come with him it will be a major win for Madrid.

Most likely the decision will be taken after the World Cup because there is still time to figure things out before preseason starts and it also opens up the option of signing Low depending on how it goes for him in the World Cup.

Real Madrid are so rich why don't they just pay the release clause for jurgen klopp?

I see logic in this. He is smart, he will keep legacy as coach of one of the best teams ever... he profits from this. In the end, any team would give him a job. I think he will take one year rest maybe. For family. He worked his ass off these three years, managing such a huge team is tough af.

I'm support his decision since he has reasons for it. It's his thing, not ours.

Zidane please join Chelsea! I don’t care if you fail or succeed, I just want my legendary player of all time to manage our team!

Roberto Carlos is available!

Zidane and his team explained to everyone how football is played 3 years of domination like never before just too easy he completed the game faster than me in PES or football manager. Life for some people is just too easy.

Not a single comment from a barca fan... they're all smiling in their hideouts ;)

But think about it... if you tell Wenger Real madrid are going for their 4th consecutive UCL trophy he will get the job done :P

@Pelle Don't start trouble where there isn't any please.

@Yvan21 Yeah, after all, the only plus to signing a manager at once would be for him to recruit the player he want but when you got a team like Real, you don't need to hurry this up. So yeah, I really hope they wait for after the World Cup to sign a manager, will open up a lot of possibility.

I think Barca gans are as shock as anybody else...

I guess. But, seriously, they have won a domestic cup that Real in, and Real the champ of Europe for 3 years. Thats not bad. And thats a healthy competition.

I think they would like Zizou to stay more than people think.

Anyway guys, I just thought about it but what does this mean for Benzema? I really doubt he is going to be given that much chance if a new manager come around... Propably mean they are some good chance he is going to be sold. Right? Also make you wonder what formation will the new coach play and if there will be player that will get axed because of it. I do hope Real end up being active on the transfer this year, it feel like years since they brought a new Galactigos.