Zinedine Zidane has decided to leave Real Madrid for the second time, as revealed by Fabrizio Romano. The club and the manager both will officially announce them parting ways in the next few days at the latest.
There were rumours regarding the Frenchman’s departure since Real Madrid’s 2-2 draw with Sevilla, and their exit from the Champions League against Chelsea, and those rumours have now been confirmed.Â
The 20/21 season was the first one in six years that Real Madrid have not won a single trophy. And in the aftermath of it, the 48-year-old has made his decision to walk away from the Santiago Bernabeu for the second time.
During his first spell at the club, Zidane led the club to a hat-trick of Champions League trophies from 2016 to 2018. After returning to the club, the Frenchman managed to guide Madrid to their 34th La Liga title last season. However, their fortune was not as good this time around, as they missed out on the league title by a single point to their rivals, Atletico.Â
As revealed by Romano himself before, Florentino Perez was prepared in case Zidane wanted to leave. And now that he has made his decision, either Massimiliano Allegri, Raul or Antonio Conte will take over the job. Conte has emerged as a surprise candidate for the job following his departure from Inter Milan yesterday.
Real Madrid are a club at the end of their cycle, and need to start trusting younger players and phasing out the more experienced ones. Either one of the three candidates would be perfect for the job, and the new head coach will be announced soon.
