Zidane seems happy to have James and Bale in his squad and is ready to take Real Madrid back to the winning ways.
Gareth Bale saw a move to Chinese club Jiangsu Suning collapse in July and looks set to stay at the Bernabeu, despite tenuous links to Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain refusing to go away.
Meanwhile, James Rodriguez is another player facing an uncertain future in the Spanish capital, having yet to feature for Madrid since returning from a two-year loan spell with Bayern Munich. Rodriguez has been linked with Napoli and Atletico Madrid but it seems he will also stay in the Bernabeu.
Zidane said at his pre-match news conference on Friday about Bale: “It seemed that he was going, but now he is with us. Things change and now I will be using him as much as the other players in the squad. I’m going to use all the players I’ve got.
He is registered with us and he is a good player. I hope all the players here want to make things difficult for me.”
Zidane also commented on James Rodriguez: “James is fit and we are happy to have him in the squad. I’ll repeat what I said before – I have a big squad and I’ll use all the players. They’re all happy to be here.”
Zidane was reappointed as the head coach of Real Madrid at the end of last season. He left Real Madrid after winning the 3rd Champions League of his reign at Kiev in 2018. After Real Madrid’s disastrous last season he has brought in a number of new players. The arrivals of Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy, Takefuso Kubo and Rodrygo Goes have strengthened the Real Madrid squad.
The transfer window remains open for Spanish clubs until 2nd September and there are continued links with Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba and Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar. But Zidane was in no mood to entertain speculation regarding further incoming players.
Zidane said: “Neymar is not a Real Madrid player. The important thing is the players that are here.
Paul is a player who plays for Manchester United, you must respect that.
I’m happy with the players I’ve got. I’m just focused on the game tomorrow, nothing else. We are ready and want to play a good game. I’ve got the best players, I’ve always said that. All I’m worried about is what we are going to do tomorrow. We want this to start now. We think about starting La Liga. We’re happy.”
Real Madrid starts their LaLiga campaign against Celta Vigo on Saturday. Zidane said: “There will always be pessimists. Real Madrid will always have these things. Whether there are good results or not, people will always argue about things. We need our fans to be with us, as they always are. We will try to make things exciting for the fans by playing good football. That’s all we can do.
We want to start and here we are. We’ve had our final training session and we want to get this league started. We are very happy to begin and we’re ready. I want to play well and get results. That’s what I’m most worried about. The most important thing for me is what we do on the pitch.
We try to do things well as a team together. If we do that, we will win as a team. I prefer it if we play well because it’s important to do that at Real Madrid.”
Zidane further added: “We can’t talk about other things we can’t affect. You can talk about other players if you like but I’m going to focus on tomorrow. I am what I am. Sometimes we all have changes of mood when things don’t go right, but I’m not going to waste time. I’m smiling, I’m happy because we love football. We are very lucky to do this. I don’t think about the past, what we have won because football is about what is coming up in the future.
If I had to think coming back was a risk, it would not be an easy thing to do. I don’t think about the criticism, it’s all part of the job. It’s part of life of a coach.
I know where I’m going and what I want from my players, I know what I want on the pitch. We have to be competitive, win matches and win titles. We have to do that throughout the season.”
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