Zinedine Zidane’s Chelsea links dismissed by man who knows him well | OneFootball

Graham Potter is still in a job at Chelsea, but it always feels like that situation is just 90 minutes away from changing.

The speculation about who might replace him has rumbled on for so long now that one has to remind one’s self that he’s still actually in a job.

One candidate who keeps being mentioned every time a top job comes up in the Premier League is Zinedine Zidane, and sure enough we saw the saw lines trotted out again this week.

We’ve never bought that particular connection, and it was great to see Emmanuel Petit on TV in France explain our thinking for us:

“I may be wrong, but I don’t believe for a second in the rumour of Zizou going to Chelsea,” Petit said in quotes picked up by Football.London.

“You spoke about it when you introduced the topic: Zizou doesn’t speak English, and while he might be learning it, knowing his style of management and how he works with players, he likes being close, and you need communication for that.

“I’ve had feedback from fans who have said that they don’t want Zinedine Zidane because he’s never declared his flame to the Premier League and he’s openly said that he much prefers a technical game, which I can completely understand when you look at the manager he is and player he was.

“The one argument I agree with is that he needs a job after being two years without one, and he might be Boehly’s choice, but Boehly, pardon me, he knows nothing about football.

“If he’s just flashing on the bling-bling of the name, then there’s plenty of other managers out there who don’t have a job and know the Premier League better.”

So there you have it, reasons why Zidane wouldn’t take the job, reasons why he might not be suited to the job, and reasons that the ownership might have other people in mind. If Roman Abramobich were still the owner, we could see him liking the idea of Zizou in charge. But the new ownership appointed Graham Potter in the summer, so it would seem they are pulling in a very different direction.