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Zinedine Zidane: Karim Benzema drops manager hint after Real Madrid exit
KARIM BENZEMA may have dropped a subtle hint over who he wants to be the next France manager in his message to departing Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.
Zidane today confirmed his departure from Real after a glittering two-and-a-half-year stint at the Bernabeu.
He won three Champions League titles plus La Liga and the Copa del Rey.
But the Frenchman has called it quits following Saturday’s 3-1 Champions League final win over Liverpool.
Speculation over what Zidane will do next is rife.
And although most of the top jobs at Europe’s elite clubs are now filled for next season, Benzema hinted he may join up with his former boss with France after the World Cup.
Je n’avais pas eu le plaisir de jouer avec toi frérot mais j’ai eu l’immense honneur de t’avoir comme entraîneur alors je te remercie du fond du coeur pour tout ce que tu m’as transmis et apporté . Bonne continuation à toi et aux tiens et peut être à bientôt challah ������������������ #ZZ pic.twitter.com/RXAUAub53b
— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) May 31, 2018
Maybe see you soon
“I did not have the pleasure of playing with you brother,” the striker - exiled from the France squad under Didier Deschamps - wrote on Twitter.
“But I had the immense honour to have you as a coach.
“So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have given and brought to me.
“Good (luck for the future) to you and yours and maybe see you soon.”
Deschamps may leave Les Bleus at the end of the World Cup in Russia this summer, having overseen the national team since 2012.
Zidane would be an obvious candidate to replace his former international team-mate at Clairefontaine.
But Arsene Wenger is also supposedly in the running for the post, while Laurent Blanc is yet to find a new job after leaving PSG in 2016.
As for Real Madrid, the bookmakers have Mauricio Pochettino as the early favourite to take over.