Real Make 'Significant Advances' In Zidane Talks
Wednesday 4th July 2001
Real Madrid claimed on Wednesday that "significant advances" had been made in their bid to sign Zinedine Zidane from Juventus, following a meeting between the clubs in Italy. "It is hoped an agreement will be reached next week," read a statement.
"This morning, Real Madrid and Juventus began negotiations for the transfer of Zinedine Zidane," it said. "The conversations between the directors of both clubs are going well.
"There have been significant advances in the negotiations with the differences between both parties narrowing ahead of a final
agreement."
Later, French web-site L'Equipe quoted an anonymous Real director as saying the deal was "a matter of hours" away. "The figure being asked is exactly �47.6 million," he said. "Negotiations are almost complete. I think it will be sorted out by this evening.
"It was Zidane who initiated it by declaring that he wanted to leave Juventus. We told him that our goal this summer was to bring him to the club. The moment we found out he wanted to join us, money was never going to be the most important factor.
"We are seeing if we can bring Flavio Conceicao back into the deal. For the Madrid public, it would be amazing to have the four best players in the world. We hope to make an announcement tonight. I hope so in any case," he added.
Juve now appear resigned to losing the French playmaker, meaning Zidane, who claimed last month if it was up to me, I'd already be at Real Madrid", would join Filippo Inzaghi as the second international star to leave the club in a matter of days.
Gianluigi Buffon and Lilian Thuram have come in from Parma for a combined fee of over �50 million, while Christian Vieri is expected to join from Inter, and the Delle Alpi club evidently need to balance the books.
The Zidane deal would be another stunning coup for Real president Florentino Perez, whose first move following his election last summer was to prise Luis Figo from bitter rivals Barcelona.
Despite constant denials from Juve chiefs about Zidane's departure, Perez has always insisted he would do everything possible to land the twice Fifa Player of the Year.
His hard-nosed tactics have not gone down well in Turin and Juve general manager Luciano Moggi said recently: "Perez is always trying to force situations. When he was trying to sign Luis Figo, his behaviour was even worse.
But whatever is said in Spain doesn't affect us in the slightest. The agents and the radio stations are trying to bring him to Spain but he is not going. Zidane is worth �70 million to us, so when we're offered that much we can start to talk.
I've read that Real will give us �35 million for Zidane, but they can double that offer if they are serious.
