Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane is reportedly displeased with president Florentino Perez because of his decision to interfere with the Frenchman’s squad selection for Los Blancos’ pre-season tour.
Real Madrid are flying to North America for their pre-season tour. They will be playing a series of friendlies against Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Chelsea for the International Champions Cup from late July to early August. Manager Zinedine Zidane has selected 25 players for the tour, but one of the selections seems to have been forced upon him by club president Florentino Perez.
Zizou is displeased that Perez has forced him to take Real’s teenage midfielder Martin Odegaard on the trip, according to French outlet Le10Sport. Although Odegaard has made just one appearance for the Los Blancos first team so far, Perez has insisted that he should be selected for the pre-season tour.
There is reportedly a clause in the young player’s contract which requires him to train with the first team five days a week, and this is the cause of this conflict between the president and the manager.
Zidane is not a big fan of the highly rated young player, who arrived at Real Madrid from Norwegian club Stormsgodset in January 2015. The Frenchman was then the manager of the Real B team Castilla, and Odegaard made 45 appearances under him, only scoring a meagre two goals. Zidane reportedly froze him out of the team in early 2015, keeping him on the substitutes bench because of his refusal to train with the reserve team, due to the aforementioned clause in his contract.
The signing of Martin Odegaard is slowly proving to be a flop for Real Madrid. At first the transfer was regarded as a massive coup, considering that the Norwegian had attracted interest from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. However, his poor performances for the B-side and the problematic clause in his contract are proving to be indicators that the signing wasn’t worth the ordeal.
Former manager Carlo Ancelotti recently termed the signing as nothing but a public relations exercise, saying he wasn’t even interested in the player. Current boss Zidane is certainly not too pleased with Odegaard as well, and it remains to be seen what effect this clash will have between Zizou and the all powerful Florentino Perez.
