World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane has revealed that Real Madrid are in talks with Bayern Munich to purchase the French winger Franck Ribery. Zidane played alongside Ribery in the 2006 World Cup finals when France reached the World Cup final but lost on penalties to Italy. Zidane will be best remembered for his two headed goals against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final – rather than his headbutt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi.
“I am in talks with Franck,” said former three times World Player of the Year, who played for Real Madrid from 2001 to 2006, told Sunday’s edition of French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere.
“He is a fantastic player who has his place at Real. And playing in this team is a career opportunity, which, to me, you do not refuse. It would be a nice opportunity for Franck. It is up to him.” However, Zidane was also concerned about the potential price tag of Ribery “Bringing together the best players in the world has a cost.”
Ribery could join Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa in the most expensive attacking quartet in history. Kaka has already joined the Madrid outfit whilst Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa are expected to complete their transfers this week. Zinedine Zidane is now the third most expensive player in the world after he signed for Real Madrid in the summer of 2001 from Italian club Juventus for a then world record fee of £47Million – an amount that has been broken twice in one week.
