Zinedine Zidane had six demands satisfied before signing with Real Madrid

Real Madrid have announced that Zinedine Zidane will be their manager until June 2022 after relieving Santiago Solari of his duties on Monday evening.

Real Madrid have been enduring a rough spell of late and the past week was marred by the worst turbulence possible. Within a gap of seven days, the Whites were kicked out of Copa del Rey, fell 12 points behind leaders Barcelona in La Liga and were mauled 4-1 by Ajax Amsterdam and sent crashing out of the UEFA Champions League.

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Three successive losses sealed Santiago Solari’s fate at the helm, and even though he won 4-1 against Real Valladolid, the inevitable sack came his way on Monday evening. Against all odds, Zinedine Zidane was appointed as his successor only 8 months after vacating his own post. The Frenchman has signed a contract until June 2022 but had six conditions before doing so.

The first one of them was something which any coach would have demanded and that is total control over the team. Real Madrid’s last two coaches in Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari had lost the dressing room because of their own egos, but even Florentino Perez’s intervention into the matters proved to be fatal. This time out, the coach does not want any interference even if it is from the board members.

Zinedine Zidane has also asked Florentino Perez to hand him the liberty to get rid of the players he considers to be deadweight. The 46-year-old is most certainly going to swing the axe on Gareth Bale- a player with whom he does not have the best terms with, as was visible in the 2017/18 season. Meanwhile, even the likes of Dani Ceballos and Mateo Kovacic could be at risk.

James Rodriguez could also be set for a permanent partitioning from Real Madrid after Zinedine Zidane has said to Florentino Perez that the Colombia international will not return to the White House from Bayern Munich. The Bavarians are interested in signing James permanently, but the player has other ideas. If James Rodriguez does not stay at Bayern, he may be warming the Real Madrid bench or head elsewhere.

While Zizou wants to sell players, he has made it very clear to Florentino Perez that he does not even want to think about Marcelo and Isco potentially heading out of the club. The Brazilian was not first choice under Santi Solari having fallen behind Sergio Reguilon, but Zidane certainly has kept the Juventus-linked man in his plans. The same applies to Isco, who was being treated poorly by Solari.

Florentino Perez is seemingly on a mission to bring former Barcelona winger Neymar to the Santiago Bernabeu at some point. But Real Madrid’s new manager has quashed all ambitions of the 71-year-old by telling him that the current Paris Saint-Germain will not have room in his squad. While that is certainly a blow to Perez’s long-term plans, he will have to agree to Zidane.

The final demand placed forward by the Frenchman is that the club must go all out in its attempt to sign Eden Hazard as well as Kylian Mbappe. The Belgium international’s arrival in the summer seems inevitable but bringing in the latter- a teenager committed to Paris Saint-Germain is going to be one hell of a task. But Zidane has a bank balance of 300 million euros to redeem on his targets.

Can Zinedine Zidane match his previous successes at Real Madrid with complete command of the club?