Zidane Blasts Real Move
Wednesday 17th January 2001
Zinedine Zidane has played down reports in Spain claiming that he has signed
a pre-contractual agreement to join Real Madrid at the end of the current
season.
The Juventus playmaker moved swiftly to state that he knew of no such
agreement following strong allegations that Real president Florentino Perez
had tied up a similar deal to the one that took Luis Figo to the Bernabeu
last summer.
In fact, the report came from the same source that revealed Figo was set to
move to the Spanish capital after signing a pre-contract that would see him
move if Perez won the race for the presidency of Real.
"The rumours that I have arranged a transfer to Real Madrid are completely
unfounded," claimed the World Cup and European Championship winner on his
personal website.
"It is necessary that the people who claim to love football and know me
believe that I have signed nothing and have no agreement with Madrid."
The report also alleged that Zidane had earlier signed an agreement stating
that if he moved away from Juventus then the Madrid club would have first
option on signing him, but the Turin giants claim that this is also untrue.
"Zidane will not be leaving the club this summer, in fact he will be here
for many years to come," said an official statement from Juventus.
But the deal has many similarities to the one that saw newly crowned
European Player of the Year, Figo, move to Madrid. The player himself and
his agent denied that any such deal had been struck only weeks before he was
presented as a Real player.
