Zinedine Zidane, the manager of Spanish giants, Real Madrid, has insisted his meeting with Manchester United midfielder, Paul Pogba in Dubai last week, was “pure chance”.
YaahooJournalist reports that Pogba, who has been in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of his recovery from an ankle problem, was photographed meeting Zidane during his trip to the region for the Dubai Artificial Intelligence in Sport (DAIS) Conference and Exhibition.
Pogba, a French international, was heavily linked with a move to Madrid in the previous transfer window, after indicating he wanted a new challenge and it is likely the France international will be the subject of rumours once more in January.
“It was pure chance,” Zidane told a news conference on Friday when asked about the meeting.
“He was there and I was doing the talk and, as we know each other, we spoke. But it’s personal – I’m not going to tell you what we talked about.
“We’ve known each other for a long time, we crossed paths, we stopped, and we talked.
“There are a lot of options, for every club [in January]. When we come to this date, the clubs will decide. We’re going to play with 11 players tomorrow [Saturday, against Real Mallorca] and there will be players on the bench. We’ll find a solution.
“We’ll be able to sign players until the end of January, but what matters to me is the game [against Mallorca]. I’m not thinking about reinforcements. That’s a long way off.”