Zidane ready to become the coach of the 'French Newcastle'
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 28.09.23. | 22:57
Interesting report suggests that Zidane likes the idea of taking over Marseille, if the ownership changes
Barely 10 hours have passed since Marseille officially appointed Gennaro Gattuso as their new coach, and at the Velodrome, it’s already whispering about the possibility that Saudi Arabia will buy the 1993 European champions. All French media already published the stories that French legend Zinedine Zidane, a Marseille native who never played for Olympique, but supports the club, turned down a chance to finally get involved in his boyhood club. Apparently, he didn’t like the project presented to him by president Pablo Longoria. After all, with three consecutive Champions League trophies as Real coach, Zidane has every right to be picky. But he maybe also refused because he knows that there is another project in the works and he wants to be part of it.
American businessman Frank McCourt bought Olympique seven years ago, and in the previous months he emphasized several times that the club is not for sale, so that seems to be the biggest obstacle to the whole operation. And the whole idea is this: Saudi Arabia wants to buy the only French club with a Champions League trophy and make it ‘the French Newcastle’, as per ‘France Blue Provence’. It is also stated that Saudi Arabia would grant Zidane funds of around 300,000,000 euros for reinforcements, and that Zizu himself would directly select the players for his team. It is a bit strange that this information was revealed on the day when Marseille presented Gennaro Gattuso as the new coach.
Let's remind you that in his coaching career so far, Zidane has only managed Real Madrid, with whom he won three consecutive Champions Leagues (2016, 2017, 2018), along with two Spanish championship titles. His second term at the Santiago Bernabeu ended in 2021, and since then he has been linked with taking over the French national team, but Didier Deschamps remained in that position. Zidane's great desire to embark on a big project with Olympique is prompted primarily by the fact that Marseille is his hometown, and that he wants to leave a significant mark there, given the fact that he did not do so during his playing days. He was also tempted by another big club in which he played, Juventus, but nothing happened with that also.
