Real Step Up Hunt For Zidane
Friday 1st June 2001
Real Madrid sports director Jorge Valdano on Friday assured Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane that the Spanish champions will do all they can to sign him. "It is true that Zidane said two days ago that he wants to play at Real," Valdano said. "If he says he wants to come then we will do our best to bring him here."
"We are not in a hurry because supporters wanted the league title and we have already won it," Valdano added.
"But I can tell you in reality next season there will be new signings and we will only bring the most important players.
"We are not interested in players that aren't the best. It's true that we have been offered a lot of players in the past two days, but we are not in a hurry and we will do it during the summer but very calmly."
Zidane revealed earlier this week that he is ready to quit Juve for La Liga, and Spanish radio reported that Real were ready to offer �10 million plus midfielder Claude Makelele and defender Michel Salgado to land the French World Cup and European Championship winner.
The 28-year-old, who has also been the subject of two bids by Manchester United, has never won the Champions' League and views the Bernabeu as the perfect stage on which to complete his ambitions in the game.
"If I could win the Champions' League then I'd have won just about everything and you play the game to win. The only thing missing for me is that medal then I would be complete.''
Money would not be an issue for Real who are ready to match the �37 million they paid Barcelona for Luis Figo last summer after finalising details on the �160 million sale of their Ciudad Deportiva training complex to the Madrid city council.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez , who was elected on the back of his promise to bring Figo to the Bernabeu, has now set his sights on Zidane and has again insisted that the funds are available to pull off a similarly stunning coup.
"His signing depends on whether our coaches want him, it is not a matter of money," Perez said. "All the great players are viable economically, despite the price."
Juve, however, are not prepared to let their World Player of the Year go without a fight.
"I absolutely refuse to sell Zidane," declared Juve president Giovanni Agnelli on Tuesday.
