Agent reveals how Newcastle rejected chance to sign Zidane for £1.2M
Newcastle United rejected the chance to sign French legend Zinedine Zidane, it has been revealed.
Agent Barry Silkman says he offered Zizou to then Toon boss Kevin Keegan when the midfielder was preparing to leave Bordeaux.
He told sport.co.uk: “I have missed out on players. I suppose the biggest player I missed out on was Zinedine Zidane.
“I offered him to Newcastle at the beginning of the 1996 season for £1.2million. And they watched him and said that he wasn’t good enough to play in the First Division which is the Championship now.
“Three months later he went to Juventus for £1.2million and two years later he went for £48million. So I think the people at Newcastle got it slightly wrong.”
Read more:
Join the conversation on 
Tribal Games
Tribalfootball Store
Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun May 20th | |||
| Toulouse | Ajaccio | - 2 | 19:00 |
| Evian TG | Brest | - 1 | 19:00 |
| Stade Rennes | Dijon | 19:00 | |
| Valenciennes | Caen | 3 - 1 | 19:00 |
| Lille | Nancy | 4 - 1 | 19:00 |
| Saint-Étienne | Bordeaux | 2 - 3 | 19:00 |
| Lorient | PSG | 1 - 2 | 19:00 |
| Sochaux | Olympique Marseille | 19:00 | |
| Auxerre | Montpellier | 1 - 2 | 19:00 |
| Olympique Lyon | Nice | 3 - 4 | 19:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montpellier | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 34 | 82 |
| PSG | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 34 | 79 |
| Lille | 38 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 33 | 74 |
| Olympique Lyon | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 64 |
| Bordeaux | 38 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 61 |
| Stade Rennes | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 60 |
| Saint-Etienne | 38 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 57 |
| Toulouse | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 56 |
| Evian TG | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | -1 | 50 |
| Olympique Marseille | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 4 | 48 |
| Nancy | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | -10 | 45 |
| Valenciennes | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | -10 | 43 |
| Nice | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | -7 | 42 |
| Sochaux | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | -20 | 42 |
| Brest | 38 | 8 | 17 | 13 | -7 | 41 |
| Ajaccio | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -21 | 41 |
| Lorient | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | -14 | 39 |
| Caen | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | -20 | 38 |
| Dijon | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | -25 | 36 |
| Auxerre | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | -11 | 34 |
Related Stories
Popular Stories
-
May 23 Agent: Hazard has agreed terms with Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea
-
May 23 Man Utd boss Ferguson returns to Tottenham's Modric after Hazard frustration
-
May 23 Barcelona's Pique unhappy with Real Madrid ace Ronaldo's 'end of cycle' claims
-
May 23 Arsenal to pounce for Chelsea Bosman Kalou
-
May 23 Man Utd chief Gill opens Everton talks over £12M Baines
Comments (19)
IS this the same agent Barry Silkman that wished Cancer on Sir Bobby Robson, letting slip of a chance NUFC had a LONG time ago to sign a kid (at the time) who wasn't deemed good enough for a club that was just finding it's feet? Must be a slow news day for that shite to be ploughed up again!
not as bad as sheffield united turned down the chance to sign diego maradona for 250k as he 'wasnt good enough and too small'
You're a big puff ^^^
Post new comment