Zizou shrugs off Blancos link to Mbappe
ZINEDINE ZIDANE has brushed off speculation surrounding a summer swoop for Monaco teenager Kylian Mbappe as he focuses on pushing Real Madrid closer to securing the La Liga title.
Saturday’s match at Granada offers Real an opportunity to pull three points clear of rivals Barcelona, who host Villarreal, and given the fact the capital club have a game in hand, that potential outcome would be significant.
But rather than discussing what Real need to do at Los Carmenes, some media outlets have obsessed over the possibility head coach Zidane could launch a 100 million euro bid for 18-year-old striking sensation Mbappe.
The young France international has set Ligue 1 and the Champions League alight this season with 19 goals in those competitions, including three across two legs against Borussia Dortmund in the European quarter-finals.
But Zidane is determined to get the best out of his existing squad before discussing transfer targets.
He told realmadrid.com: “(Mbappe) is having an exceptional season and so of course people are starting to talk for talking’s sake. I only focus on the players I already have at my disposal – and that’s it.
“It’s not good to talk about players that you don’t coach.”
Referring to the weekend meeting with a relegated opponent, the Frenchman added: “It will be even harder because Granada have nothing to play for.
“They will give their all against Real Madrid and they have some quality players. We could say that they’ve had a bad season because they’ve gone down, but all year long they’ve demonstrated that they can compete at this level.”