Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has admitted Juventus remains important to him and hinted he would consider a move to manage the Serie A side in the future.
Current Juventus boss Andrea Pirlo is facing the chop after Sportsmail revealed this week the club are set for a major overhaul should they fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Juventus currently find themselves fourth in the table, 12 points adrift of league leaders Inter Milan following their draw at the weekend against Torino in the Turin derby, leaving their former midfielder Pirlo facing intense scrutiny over his position.
Zidane, 48, also made 214 appearances for Juventus across a five-year spell before moving to Real Madrid in 2001, and when talking to former team-mate Alessandro Del Piero, the Frenchman admitted Italy still holds some appeal for him.
“Do I miss more Italy or Del Piero? At both, Italy is in my heart, I spent five years in Turin and Juventus is still important to me,” Zidane told Sky Sport Italia after Madrid’s 3-1 victory over Liverpool in their Champions League quarter-final first leg.
“Future at Juve? I don’t know. For now I’m here, we’ll see,” the 1998 World Cup winner added with a smile.
Zidane’s contract with the current LaLiga champions runs until June 2022, but in February he refused to commit to seeing out that deal, having also been linked with the France job and taking over from Didier Deschamps after this summer’s Euros.
“Well, we’ll see,” he said two months ago. “The important thing is, I said it to the other reporters, we’re just focused on this season.
“I just focus on the day-to-day, today, tomorrow, the game. As for the rest, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
A departure from the Spanish capital may also become reality if Enrique Riquelme succeeds in ousting Florentino Perez as club president, with the businessman confirming he would not have the Frenchman in charge and would eye Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp.
Juventus meanwhile will miss out on Champions League football for the first time in nine years if they fail to finish in the top four this season – they are currently level on points with Napoli in fifth.
Pirlo’s next big test comes on Wednesday when they welcome Napoli to the Allianz Stadium, with both sides level on 56 points.
Former teammate Fabio Cannavaro however threw his weight behind Pirlo, insisting the club should put their faith in him.
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