Chelsea and Manchester United could jump ahead of Real Madrid in race to sign French midfielder

Zinedine Zidane’s return to Real Madrid has not quite gone to plan so far, with the Frenchman struggling to recreate his prior success during his second stint as the club’s manager. 

According to reports, the Los Blancos head coach is treading a fine line and his future is under serious consideration after their disappointing La Liga performances of late.

However, if Zidane were to depart the Bernebeu, it could hand Chelsea and Manchester United an advantage in their pursuit of a young French midfielder.

According to AS, Real would lose their chance of signing 18-year-old Eduardo Camavinga if Zidane is relieved of his duties.

Zidane is under pressure at Real.

That would be good news for Chelsea and United, who are both reportedly interested in the highly rated Rennes midfielder.

The player’s agent recently stated that Camavinga may well move to the Premier League, however both clubs had previously faced stiff competition from Madrid, as well as Paris Saint-German.

The player is reportedly only interested in Madrid if fellow countryman Zidane is in charge, however, meaning that his potential sacking would signal the end of the club’s chances of singing the midfielder.

Camavinga is seen by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the ideal player to bolster his United midfield options, an area of the pitch in which he has struggled to find a balance.

Equally, Camavinga could be seen by Chelsea as a replacement for Jorginho, who has been strongly linked with a return to Napoli to work with Maurizio Sarr once again, with the Italian manager strongly suspected to return with the aim of raiding his former club at the end of the season.

The teenager has played three times for the French senior national side and has played 75 matches for Rennes’ first-team.