After disappointing results in LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Champions League, it became clear that Real Madrid needs to make some changes. At first, there were talks of Solari being replaced by Zidane, but it was reported the Frenchman refused to re-join Real by stating “it’s not the right time yet”. After the deal of bringing Zidane back fell into the water, there were talks of Mourinho coming back to take over, which stir up a lot of dissatisfied faces among players who protested the decision of bringing “The Special One” back, and again the deal did not go through. But then shock ensued when out of the blue Zinedine Zidane was announced as the head coach of Real Madrid, where he will return after less than a year.
Zinedine Zidane during the press conference of the official presentation of Zinedine Zidane as new Manager of Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. March 11, 2019. (Photo by A. Ware/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
After leaving Real Madrid in 2018, “Zizou” surprisingly decided to rejoin the club as the head coach, but was it the love of the club or something else that made him decide to return to Real Madrid?
What seemed close to impossible became the reality on March 11th, when Zidane was convinced by Florentino Perez to sign the contract which will tie him with the club until summer 2022. To be fair I am not too surprised that Perez managed to talk Zidane into re-joining Real Madrid. The two have got a special relationship between them, which includes a lot of respect on both sides and one shared passion; Real Madrid. But there is more to Zidane’s return than just good relations between him and Perez. The key factor that I believe made Zinedine Zidane rethink his return was power. It is reported that Zidane will have full power over the team, new signings, and departures as well as picking the starting XI. For some, this may seem like something every coach has, but that is far from the truth. What has been offered to Zidane is rarely seen in the world of football, and is most likely the main reason why the Frenchman returned to Santiago Bernabeu. That becomes that much more likely if we take into consideration the reason behind Zidane leaving Real Madrid in June was that he felt like he did not have enough power to shape the team the way he wanted. This time around he will.
While power plays a big part, there is also, of course, all the money he has been offered. With his new contract, Zidane will walk home with £21.6 million (€25 million /$28.3 million) over the next 3 years, which means he will earn £19,725 (€22,867/$25,817) per day, just to put it into a perspective. This now officially makes him the highest paid coach in the world, which may seem like a bit of overkill, but at the end of the day, he has an incredible history with Real Madrid. As a coach and as a former Real Madrid player Zidane has been a big part of the team, and with all the money Real Madrid has at their disposal, we could say the price on Zinedine Zidane is acceptable. While we can speculate if it was the Perez, power, money or love for the club that made him return, at the press conference Zidane proved it was the latter as he had said the following:
“It’s a special day for everyone, I’m very happy to come back home. I don’t have anything to say – I’m very happy to be back and I want to work to put this club back where it should be. “
“I left because a change was needed at end of last season, for the good of everyone, as they had won so much. I returned as the president called me, and I love him, and this club.”
While he is happy to be back, Zidane is well aware he has a tough job in front of him. He needs to put the team back on the map and back into winning rhythm. This season offers little to no opportunities for Real to win anything, but Zidane has all the tools to bring Real Madrid back to former glory next season. With not a lot of news of how Zidane will approach his moulding of Real Madrid, the most notable are the transfer reports which state Zidane is looking to bring Hazard and Eriksen to his team and I am sure Zizou has more plans for the team in the future. With more power, more money and a bigger drive to “make Real great again”, we can be sure, next season we will watch new and improved Real Madrid, who won 3 consecutive Champions League titles under Zinedine Zidane.
