Thierry Henry has revealed his old teammate Zinedine Zidane is holding out to be the next manager of the France national team.
Zidane, who helped Les Bleus to the World Cup in 1998 and another final in 2006, has been out of the game since leaving Real Madrid in May 2021. During his two stints in the Bernabeu dugout, the fiery Frenchman won three Champions League crowns and a pair of LaLiga titles.
There's little surprise then that his name is often floated about when a high-profile job anywhere in the world becomes available. Zidane was touted as a possible Manchester United manager following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ’s dismissal and has also been heavily linked with the Paris Saint-Germain job.
And having achieved great success with one of his former teams, another look primed to be on the lookout for a new manager with Massimiliano Allegri under mounting pressure at Juventus. On Tuesday the Binaconeri crashed out of the Champions League after losing to Benfica, marking the fifth time in as many seasons they have failed to reach the latter stages of the tournament.
Allegri is now clinging on to his job with Zidane being linked with the soon-to-be vacant role. However, Henry believes that his former partner in crime is instead waiting for Didier Deschamps to leave his post as the manager of the national team - which could come after this winter’s World Cup.
Zidane this week has hinted his return to the dugout is close, telling RMC Sport: "Do I miss the coach’s suit? No, I’m not far away, we wait, we wait a little bit. Soon, soon. I’m not far from coaching again."
But when asked about Zidane taking over at Juve, Henry told CBS Sports: “I’m not going to go there, I think he is waiting for the national team. So I’m not going to go there. I don’t think he will go there [Juventus]. I think he is waiting for one thing and one thing only and that’s the national team.
“You won three Champions Leagues with Real Madrid, why are you going to bother with other clubs when you can have the national team? I wouldn’t.”
Pressed on whether he knew if the France job would be available in the coming months, he added: “I don’t actually know but Zizou has been waiting. He’s been linked with a lot of clubs and it never happened. I don’t think Zizou would want to do it, I can see him waiting for the national team and it makes total sense.”
Henry spent one season with Juventus before he joined Arsenal and he suggested that the Old Lady could learn from the Londoners when it comes to keeping patient with under pressure managers. Juve are on their third manager since 2019 and Henry has pointed to Mikel Arteta’s recent success as a reason to stick with Allegri.
“I said it when Pirlo left. I said it when Sarri left. It's not a bad coach. You need to be able to coach also. Now what's happening behind closed doors, we don't know. But like I said, it takes time sometimes,” Henry explained.
“We've seen it with Arteta. It took him two years to put a decent team on the field and people were having a go so are you going to stay with the man? Are you not going to stay with the man?
“But to think about it carefully, because you never know what can happen. They thought by bringing him [Allegri] in, things were going to change and it didn't happen yet.”
