Al Nassr club sent a proposal for Zinedine Zidane to replace Rudi Garcia who was just fired, for former Real Madrid coach to reunite with Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi League.
According to Goal, Al Nassr is targeting two candidates to succeed Garcia, Jose Mourinho and Zinedine Zidane. They even sent a verbal offer to Zidane, but the 51-year-old coach has not yet agreed. Ronaldo is also discussing with the team leader about choosing a new coach, as well as when his opinion was consulted when the team fired Garcia on the evening of April 13.
The opportunity for Al Nassr to attract Mourinho is more difficult, when the Portuguese coach will only be able to leave at the end of the season. Moreover, he also did not want to go to the Saudi League, but aimed for a position at PSG or Chelsea. And Zidane can take up the job immediately, because he has not led any team since leaving Real in the summer of 2021.
Ronaldo has worked with Mourinho and Zidane, both at Real Madrid. Together with Mourinho, he won La Liga, the King’s Cup and the Spanish Super Cup in 2010-2013. The 38-year-old superstar was more successful with Zidane with three Champions League titles, one La Liga, one Spanish Super Cup, two European Super Cups and two FIFA Club World Cups, between 2016 and 2018.
Ronaldo is said to be the cause of Garcia’s job loss, but he is still grateful to the 59-year-old French coach. “I am honored to work with him, wishing him all the best in the future,” he wrote on Instagram with a picture of Garcia’s handshake.
After announcing the termination of his contract more than a year before the deadline with Garcia, Al Nassr also posted a photo of a farewell party for this coach. In it, there was a moment when Garcia was still smiling at the team leader.
Interim coach Dinko Ilicic from the U19 team was promoted to lead the Al Nassr first team until they found a new person. He directed Al Nassr’s training session from the evening of April 13, when the team was about to play a match against the defending Asian champion Al Hilal on the evening of April 18.
Al Nassr is second in the Saudi League, with three points less than Al Ittihad. When Ronaldo arrived in Saudi Arabia in early January 2023, the team was still at the top of the table. But then they lost to Al Ittihad himself, and let the team ranked 11th Al Feiha draw 0-0 on the evening of April 9. Those results led to coach Garcia being fired.
