Zidane is keeping tight-lipped about his future plans, according to this article. I guess if there was no shot of coming to MLS, he would have said something. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/soccer/02/24/bc.soc.thailand.zidane.ap/index.html
Actually, I think that lends credence to the fact that talks or negotiations of some kinds are going on.
This says that the starting price for Zidane 15 million a year and nothing less. So I would say according sports illustrated article he is considering a move to the MLS. NY and CHI are both teams who might be willing to drop 15 mill a season for his services http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=chang_jen
i've said this before, but i'll say it again: i think he misses playing competitively. the vast majority of people on BigSoccer assume he is in absolute heaven in retired life. and while that is certainly possible (and would be consistent with his published comments), if that were true that would put Zidane in a small, small minority of retired superstar athletes. as far as American superstars go .... very few can make a seemless transition into retirement WITHOUT trying a comeback, or at least admitted strong feelings of missing the game, etc. as far as Zidane goes, i have a real hard time believing that a man with his skill and with his competitive fire is content sitting at home doing nothing all day. but as far as playing in Europe, it opens up a pandora's box of attention, pressure and expectations that he'd rather not deal with. i think MLS offers up an opportunity that would allow him to kind of blend into the crowd and become anonymous and just focus on football. and i think that is exactly what he wants. my theory is that he wants badly to play in MLS ... to re-polish his image and to play competitive football again in a different environment than the fish bowl that are the big 4 Euro leagues. i think he wants to play, but i think it is his family concerns that is holding this thing up. remember: ZZ has 4 relatively young children. i don't think they want to come live in America for 2 years. .... this is pure speculation and an educated guess, but i think family-wise, his wife and children are holding the deal up. from a football standpoint, i'll bet you ZZ loves the deal: $30 million to live in a city like NYC for 2 years, play in a (relatively) stress-free environment and become one of the saviours of a burgeoning league? hell, that's a great deal. not to mention he avoids the media scrutiny that he had to deal with on a day to day basis in Madrid. being a soccer 'star' in the US, to Zidane that would feel like he's on the witness relocation program. and that's exactly why it's appealing to him. FTR i don't think he's coming to MLS. i think he wants to, but in the end i'll think he'll opt for his family's concerns. the money would be nice, but they don't need money.
When I read about Beckham's salary I immediately thought, they're trying to lower the price for anyone else they sign, and then thought of Zidane. But ZZ is retired, so he can ask for more to come out of retirement. I imagine someone like AEG is looking for companies that'll use him in advertisements to increase the money figure. That said how cool would it be to see ZZ in a beer commercial? Something where he walks into his home turns on the light with a headbutt, turns on the tv with a headbutt, and opens his beer with a headbutt?
desperately... trying... to ... resist... discussing... theories... on ... poetry... [/silent scream]
Last night on BBC's World Football Phone In, Sean Wheelock, someone who presumably might have a bit of inside knowledge said emphatically that there have been talks with Zidane and that they are ongoing. Right now the sticking point is the $15 million figure. You can listen to last night's show by Clicking here.
i never knew he had that big of a family. and you're right, he has 4 sons ranging from 2 to 11 in age. i wonder what he would do, would he pick up his family and move to NYC (or Chicago)?? or would he leave them in France and come back and visit when he could?? the kids are probably comfortable where they are, being around their friends and schools, etc. i'll bet you that's why ZZ set the price so high: $15 million/year. this is a pretty big change for his family -- not every group can just pick up and leave like Team Beckham. (more like "The Beckham Circus: traveling to a city near you") but in fairness, Beckham's move is for the long haul. Zidane's commitment would just be for 2 years, then he'd move back to France.
I'm waiting for the clash of the Titans.... A Zidane Headbutt vs A Dema Kovalenko "Leg Breaker Special"..... Zidane Chest Stomp vs. Dario Sala Sucker Punch. It's worth 15 million dollars (of someone elses money ) to see players knock the crap out of each other.
Umm Zidane's played in Turin, and Madrid over the past 10 years or so, and now his family is setup and too comfortable to move away from France, where he's been for what maybe the past 8 months?
good point. i'll give you that. but OTOH, don't you think that some promises were made on his part, i.e. "I'm retired now, and we won't be moving anywhere for a while"? regardless, i'll bet you there's some resistance somewhere in there. the kids probably enjoy having their Dad around, no child wants to be constantly moving around (much less move to a different continent). getting $20-30 million for 18 months work is a slam dunk for any of us, but it's not like it means anything to his family. they already have all the money they could ever spend ...
With the reveal of Beckham's $5.5M/year MLS deal, I wonder if Zidane would be willing to get just half of the supposed $15M ... Unless that number actually includes the MLS salary plus endorsements/etc then he'll be a bit of a bargain. I agree with Asprilla9 that he wants to play very much. He's been playing the game for nearly 20 years. To quit almost cold turkey and say that you don't miss it (which he has done) is a little suspect to me. He's been playing a bunch of charity games these last three months - right now in Thailand. Plus I think he's slated to play a UN charity match with Ronaldo and Didier Drogba and an official futsal match in France, both of which are in March. I do have a question about the Red Bulls' alleged interest. Weren't they pretty much set to sign Delgado for their second DP but that got thwarted by FIFA upholding his suspension? Had that not happened and Delgado is to be announced next week, that would have left Zidane out of their plans (if he was any part of it at all). So was it mostly Fire all along? In the end, I say this has around 15-20% chance of happening. And if I'm wrong and there's actually a bigger chance, then I'll gladly be wrong and eat my hat.
Is ZZ big into endorsements? If he isn't then maybe AEG thinks it will be hard for them to earn the $15 million a year back.
i get the feeling that he's not. i think the idea with ZZ is, he comes to America to avoid the scrutiny and the daily media circus. he comes for the stress-free football environment. i think if he wanted to be that guy ... he'd just play for a team in Italy or Spain (or France). but i think he wants OUT of the spotlight. that being said, i bet AEG could persuade ZZ to do a couple of easy, half-day TV commercial shoots. but remember: he wants to be somewhat anonymous here .... if he does a bunch of national TV ad campaigns, that is really at direct odds with why he's here in the first place. he doesn't want to be bothered by everyone on the street/hounded by the press and paparazzi. if he wanted all that, he could easily play anywhere in Europe. this is all why he's a completely different animal than Beckham.