Louis Saha believes Zinedine Zidane would be the perfect managerial appointment for Manchester United.
United are on the hunt to find their next permanent manager to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and are aiming to have one in place before the end of the season. That could be difficult, though, as leading candidates Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag are both in high profile jobs with PSG and Ajax respectively and still competing for trophies.
There's still no guarantee that they would actually want the job, either, so United may have to look at alternatives. One potential option is Zidane, who has won the Champions League three times as a manager and has been out of work since leaving Real Madrid in May last year.
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Saha believes that his former international teammate would command respect and be given the time needed to turn things around at Old Trafford. “I have to admit it’s a hard position to be in (for Rangnick), especially when you are an interim manager," Saha told William Hill.
"Some players will think you don’t have all the cards in your hands, so it’s not easy, it’s really not easy. I would like to see Zidane appointed in the summer.
"He’s such a big figure and there’s no question about the respect he will receive. He’ll have the time to get things in order. The guy’s won Champions Leagues for fun.
"And he wasn’t helped by (Real) Madrid being the toughest position for a manager. Everyone can recognise that the Spanish league is very hard. I really think he has all the tools but whether he will go to United I’m not sure.
Saha also admitted he didn't believe that, going off his manner on the pitch during his illustrious career, Zidane would become a manager. He added: “I didn’t really see him going on to be a manager to be honest.
"The guy was such a genius at what he was doing on the pitch, but not necessarily speaking about it or being vocal. There were other players like (Marcel) Desailly or (Didier) Deschamps, all those players were more vocal than him.
“But when you have that charisma and that maturity in your head and you know football much better than anyone because you’ve seen it all before, it was just about the transition for him to communicate all this to his players.
"It was the challenge I could see, but he has done brilliantly. The guy worked hard, and he has great staff around him. He has proved that he is going to be successful in anything he does.”
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