Absolute power not good for anyone, even if you are Zinedine Zidane
- By Azeem Siddiqui (@aze3msiddiqui)
In the world of club football, the word power instantly reminds you of a white force from the Western European country of Spain with the name of Real Madrid.
The La Liga giants are a real powerhouse in club football since it was established and therefore, the pressure, expectations, desire and the hunger are on another level as compared to most of the big clubs in the continent.
At Real, there is a well-defined power structure. There is a powerful president in place who is elected through proper elections, but once in power, he will decide the club’s direction in any manner he wants and there are tons of examples to back that claim.
However, there is one man who is challenging that structure head on and he is none other than club legend Zinedine Zidane.
The former French World Cup winner has returned to the managerial post just after nine months — that too with powers like no manager had at the Santiago Bernabeu in our very short memory.
It is believed that the former Juventus star midfielder was only convinced to return after he was given ‘complete or absolute authority’ over the transfer business.
History will tell you that more power often leads to destruction and as former British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger once said: “Unlimited power corrupts the possessor”, it seems that might well become the case with one of the greatest tacticians the game has ever witnessed.
It seems that Zidane —aka Zizou — has clearly told the club that he will not budge to any of his demands with the transfer policy and if he is pushed to do so, he will leave.
The most recent example of that came when as per media reports, Zidane convinced the board to sign Manchester United’s Paul Pogba instead of Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen, a move which in all honesty does not make sense for Real.
Tactically, Real are in need of an attacking midfielder to boost the midfield of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
Out of those three, the Croatia international is seem to be the only one passed his prime after turning 33, and Eriksen seem to be his perfect replacement.
At the age of 27 only, the Denmark international had six amazing seasons for Spurs in arguably one of the most competitive league in the world where he was one of most creative player along with the likes of Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Manchester City’s David Silva.
Eriksen can play in a deeper role, can play behind the striker and has the ability to unlock opposition’s defensive line makes him a world-class talent.
Yes there can be an argument that Pogba can do the same and there will be people using his 2018-19 season stats to back that claim where he has scored 13 goals and provided nine assists compared to Eriksen’s seven goals and 12 assists.
However, it is not that simple. Pogba had those numbers in 34 matches compared to Eriksen’s 30, whereas he has also scored seven of those goals on penalties, whereas Eriksen did not score a single like that.
Then there is a financial aspect in this deal too. People familiar with the new financial realities of the football world will tell you that Real are not a financial powerhouse they once were and even then they’ve spent well over €300 million already in the current transfer window.
That leaves Zidane with not so much money to spend for more acquisition and once again, Eriksen fits the bill completely as he just has one year left on his contract and can cost Real in the region of €70 to €90 million, whereas his current wages are just a little more than €80,000 per week.
On the other hand, the French international has three years left on his contract and is valued at around €165 million by United considering they don’t have to sell him if they don’t want to. Coupled that with his weekly salary of more than €325,000 and you are looking at an expenditure of nearly €200 million on a player who had a history of disciplinary problems.
That’s not the only mistake Zidane is about to make in the transfer window. The Frenchman signing of left-back Ferland Mendy from Lyon for €48 million did not make much sense either.
The Los Blancos already have Sergio Reguilón, one of the best young left-back in the league and had an impressive previous campaign for the club where he has made 1.8 tackles and 2.5 interceptions per game in 13 league appearances, but now he is expected to be sent on loan to make room for a player who has only managed 1.5 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per game for Lyon in Ligue 1.
Interestingly, Zidane didn’t sign Mendy as a backup for Reguilón or vice versa, but he has signed the 24-year-old as a backup option for Brazilian veteran left-back Marcelo, who by the look of things has surely passed his prime and needs to be rotated more often than not.
Twelve months down the line, I might be wrong. By then, people might well be talking about a person sitting on his couch, didn’t know anything about the game writing this all and criticizing the living legend.
But here we are talking about the process, here we are talking about a club which is bigger than all, here we are talking about the dirty game of politics and above all, here we are just talking about right and wrong.