A personal intervention from Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has prevented Manchester United securing the signing of Rayan Cherki from Lyon.
That’s according to Defensa Central, who say Zidane moved quickly to stop United securing the highly-rated French youngster this summer.
Cherki is one of the hottest prospects in Europe after breaking through at Lyon and impressing, despite being just 16-years-old.
He signed his first professional contract with the Ligue 1 side in July last year but it seems Manchester United were close to luring him away.
According to DC, United had offered the youngster a ‘practically irresistible offer’ to join their academy, which made it clear that he would receive a professional deal and increase when he turned 17.
However, they were unable to finalise a deal because Zidane intervened and convinced Real Madrid to make their move instead.
They fansite reports, in an exclusive, that Zidane warned those in charge at the Bernabeu of Cherki’s desire to move to Madrid and the ‘imperative need’ to sign him.
Convincing Florentino Pérez that the youngster would be France’s number ten for the next 15 years, they made their move with a phonecall to Lyon’s Jean-Michel Aulas.
They were happy to deal with Madrid, and Cherki has made it clear that he wants to move to the Bernabeu in future. Thus, Aulas offered him a new contract, and he signed that aged just fifteen.
It’s stated that had Madrid ‘appeared a few months later’ they would have found they’d missed out on the youngster as he’d have had a ‘closed agreement’ with Manchester United.
Instead, he’s ended up staying at Lyon and continued to develop, with a move to Madrid seemingly a case of when, not if.
