Zinedine Zidane will only work for three teams - Man Utd aren’t one of them as Real Madrid legend is mooted as potential successor to Erik ten Hag

The legendary Frenchman, who inspired his country to World Cup glory in 1998, has been out of coaching since bringing a second spell in charge of Real Madrid to a close in 2021. He has been linked with various posts since then, but is still waiting on the right offer.

According to former Blancos team-mates Thomas Gravesen, Zidane remains out of work as there are only a small number of positions that appeal to him. There have been suggestions that Sir Jim Ratcliffe would like to take the former Ballon d’Or winner to Old Trafford as successor to Erik ten Hag, but United hold no appeal at present.

Gravesen has told Discovery Plus: “I spoke to Zidane in Madrid two years ago and he told me that there are only three roles that he would like to accept. And they are Marseille, [Real] Madrid and the French national team. We were in Madrid two years ago and he told me exactly that. I also asked him if he was willing to manage again and there he told me that only if there were possibilities for those three.”

The former Everton midfielder added when asked if Zidane could be tempted by an approach from Manchester: “I would say that the team he had in Madrid was fantastic, and he was prepared from the beginning. At United the situation is different, it is very difficult to do something with the team that Ten Hag has at the moment.”

Ten Hag ended United’s six-year wait for major silverware when overseeing a Carabao Cup triumph last season, while also returning them to the Champions League, but inconsistency has been an issue in 2023-24 and – with Ratcliffe now on aboard as partial owner – changes are being mooted at Old Trafford on and off the field.