4.18.2007

And The Zizou Rumors Continue

The mainstream media has picked up on the widespread rumors that Zinedine Zidane may be on his way to the L.A. Galaxy. Reports say the G's have made an offer to the 35-year French star who is seen as a soccer god in most of the world. He has been retired since his unceremonius sending-off in the World Cup final and several teams have tried to lure him back to the pitch, but the latest round of rumors appears to have more teeth to it.

AEG everyman Tim Leiweke may have traveled to France to speak with Zidane's representatives. He told Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy, "We have contacted his entourage about coming to play for us this year."

Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas: "I can't comment about specifics of any of the negotiations we have. All I can say is we continue to court the best players we possibly can. I would certainly think this player would be an asset to any team."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are at about $2.01 million in salary if you go by the 2006 Washington post figures. So that # could be higher than $2.01 mil. Where do they plan to get the DP and cap space to do this??????? Shouldn't you have a DP slot in hand before signing a player. Are they going to trade away their younger talent to get one, so ZZ can play 1 year? Donovan will need a DP next year as well.

TJ said...

I've heard that they do have the cap space to make a DP deal happen.

As far as getting the second DP, AEG's Houston franchise has publicly made it known that they don't want to use theirs right now. AEG also owns L.A., of course.

It wouldn't be unthinkable for Houston to trade their DP to L.A. for the rest of this year so the G's could have Zidane. They could keep the slot for next year to use on Donovan. I don't think anyone is talking about more than a one-year deal for ZZ...

It's a perfect scenario as far as L.A. is concerned. The only thing holding up the deal is Zidane.

Anonymous said...

There is no way possible the have $325K in cap room. They have Donovan making the max, which is $325K or so. The $400K Beckham will count against the cap. Plus Marshall, Albright, Vagenas, Cobi, and maybe 1 or 2 others making six figures. No way in hell they have the room for a DP, no way

Anonymous said...

Too bad the Washington Post can't get ahold of this years salaries and publish them

Anonymous said...

they have confirmed that they have space, so deny all you want, space will not be the issue to stop this from happening. i think a couple of points that are being forgetten is, 1) does 100% of donovan's salary count against the cap; 2) the DP won't be free so you will need to subtract the salary of the player being traded away; and 3) any possible allocation trades that could be sitting in the wings should they land a DP and ZZ.