Moggi Claims Zidane Instigated Real Move
Tuesday 22nd January 2002
Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi has repeated his claim that Zinedine Zidane and not the Turin club instigated his �49 million world-record transfer to Real Madrid.
Zidane has always insisted that he was ready to stay at the Serie A side, but was forced into the move by Moggi, who has the final say on all transfer matters.
There were those, including honorary chairman Giampiero Boniperti, who questioned the wisdom of selling a man widely regarded as the best player in the world, even for a record fee.
However, Moggi maintained that he had no choice but to sanction the deal as Zidane refused to discuss the matter with him. "He may have had a few problems with me in the last month, but that was only because he decided to leave without telling us," said Moggi.
"He personally never made his intentions clear and forced us to negotiate through his agent."
Various recriminations have appeared both in Italy and Spain, but with Zidane finally finding his feet at the Bernabeu, Moggi attempted to draw a veil over this long-running saga. "I don't believe much that has been written about Zidane since his move to Spain," said Moggi. "I know Zizou well and I know that he is a well-balanced man.
"He always played well for Juventus and he never had any problems with the club or the supporters."
Of more pressing concern to Juventus, and Moggi in particular, is the title race. Juventus have won their last four games and are currently third, just four points behind leaders Internazionale and three points off second-placed Roma.
Edgar Davids, however, has once again complained bitterly about being relegated to bench - this time for Sunday's league win against Atalanta, leaving Moggi to take the Dutch midfielder to task about 'rocking the boat' at a delicate stage of the season.
"He has got to respect the coach's decision even if he is unhappy," said Moggi. "I rely on Lippi to make the correct decisions for the good of the team and what he is doing at present, is creating a winning team.
"We just missed winning the league last season when we tired in the closing stages and it now we have to take advantage of any slip-ups by Inter and Roma."
