Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has said that rumours of the club’s interest in Barcelona forward Neymar doesn’t trouble his players.
The club’s president Florentino Perez is believed to be interested in the Brazilian, and will even cough out his 190 million-euro release clause if need be, reports say.
According to a programme on Spanish radio station Onda Cero, the club’s representatives including lawyers met with the player’s representatives during the FIFA Ballon D’Or awards to convince him to switch sides.
The move, if pushed through, is expected to signal the end of the Los Blancos’ career of one of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or Karim Benzema.
But Zidane maintains that the players are not allowing the various media reports get to them.
He said: “I have a 26-man squad and I’m happy with the players I’ve got. That’s all I focus on. I don’t waste time on external talk. The rumours don’t disturb the dressing room; it’s normal for you [the media] to talk about these things, that’ll always be the case, just like with the stuff about Cristiano leaving… It’s normal for other clubs to want him. We just have to concentrate on the job at hand.”