Transfer Talk: Zidane tops Mourinho for return to Real Madrid top job
Paul Mariner and Ross Dyer dissect the latest transfer rumours, including Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho making surprise returns to former clubs.
Following their defeats in the Copa del Rey, El Clasico and Champions League, Real Madrid will look to right the ship at Valladolid on Sunday.
Mark Donaldson and Shaka Hislop weigh up which players at Real Madrid should be kept and offloaded to improve the squad in the summer.
The transfer window for Europe's biggest clubs is closed, but click here for all the deals, and keep track of who has joined the big boys. Transfer Talk will continue to scour the world's media and set correspondents loose to see what's on the agenda for the summer.
ZZ Top...of Madrid's hit list
Just when Chelsea thought their season couldn't get any more complicated. Marca (via The Sun) is reporting that the Blues top managerial target Zinedine Zidane could soon be the recipient of offers from both Juventus and Real Madrid, chucking another spanner in the Stamford Bridge works.
Madrid's stunning humiliation by Ajax means that the Spanish giants are upping their efforts to entice their former manager back to the Bernabeu.
Zidane led Madrid to three successive Champions League titles and although he walked away from the job last summer, the bond between the French great and Los Blancos is a strong one, even if relations between Zizou and current Real president Florentino Perez are lukewarm at best. Perez could soon face a presidential run-off with Ramon Calderon, another former president of the club, and if the latter wins then Chelsea's hunt for a new manager could go into Fergie time.
Or if they reach the top four, might be called off altogether. Mind you, last night the papers were reporting that Jose Mourinho was nailed on for the Madrid job, despite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer making the Old Trafford job look far easier than the Portuguese misery ever did. Football, eh.
Could a return to Real Madrid be in the future for Zinedine Zidane?Which (Mersey)side are you on?
Liverpool may be winning the battle for bragging rights on Merseyside by a country mile -- but they could face a head-to-head battle with Everton for the services of Real Sociedad defender Diego Llorente.
That's according to local Spanish outlet Noticias de Gipuzkoa (via the Liverpool Echo), which reports that the two Mersey giants are both keen on landing the player. Liverpool are already believed to have readied a bid of £25 million, well below the player's release clause of £42.8m but near enough to make ears prick up in San Sebastian.
Liverpool and Everton are desperate for defensive reinforcements this summer, with the pair having both been left short this season as a result of injury. The shortage has been more acute at Everton and could get worse in the coming months, with Phil Jagielka's contract due to expire and Kurt Zouma potentially returning to a Chelsea side hamstrung by a two-window transfer ban.
The answer, it seems, may lay in Spain. And the race is on.
Monchi free to Rom(a)
Sky Sport in Italy (via Calciomercato) report that Roma's director of football, Monchi, could have left the club before you've had time to finish your morning cuppa.
If that happens then the impressively bearded Spaniard could be free to join his old pal Unai Emery at Arsenal sooner rather than later -- a move which has taken up countless column inches over the past month.
Tap-ins
- Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti hasn't given hope of keeping Mauro Icardi at the Nerazzuri, despite the current and constant rumours linking him with a move away from Italy. Calciomercato quoted the ageless Argentine, who said: "The dialogue is always the best thing in my opinion. Let's hope it will lead somewhere there is openess now."
- Italian paper La Stampa (via Sportbible) is reporting that Marcelo is on his way to Juventus after signing a four-year contract worth €12m a season. Nice work if you can get it.
Source: espn.co.uk
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