The French Football Federation has shortlisted Lille coach Christophe Galtier as a replacement for Didier Deschamps as national team coach.
Deschamps - who won the 2018 World Cup and led France to the Final of Euro 2016 - has been in conversation with Juventus for several weeks about succeeding Massimiliano Allegeri as manager of the Serie A champions.
Galtier was named Ligue 1 coach of the year on Sunday night at the end of a season in which the 52-year-old qualified LOSC for the Champions League by finishing second to Paris Saint-Germain. Galtier's results included a 5-1 humbling of PSG, the Qatar-owned club operating on revenues tens times those of Lille.
“I think he is the man of the season,” said Jose Mourinho of Galtier in a recent interview with French daily L'Equipe . "Taking his team to the Champions League, to second place, the quality of football, the quality of development of young players. I think the owners are already celebrating because they have players to sell, and sell well."
The Daily Record understands that the FFF has already sounded Galtier out about the possibility of taking over from Deschamps, who is one of a number of candidates to coach former club Juve after seven years in charge of the France national team. Both the French federation and the Serie A club are also monitoring tensions that have developing between Florentino Perez and recently reinstalled Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane over player recruitment.
Questioned over his club president's proposal to sell goalkeeper Keylor Navas last week, Zidane said: “I will be clear about who will play when the next season starts. It's my decision. Who do you think is in charge of this team? It's clear as water. I'm the coach, I will always do what I want and if I can't then I'll quit. That's clear.”
Zidane agreed to end a sabbatical from football and return to the Santiago Bernabeu in March after being granted assurances by Perez that he would have the final say on transfers in and out of the club. Also promised personal control of €200million of transfer budget, Zidane has identified disgruntled Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba as one of his preferred summer recruits.
Juve decided to remove Allegri as manager at the end of their current campaign following discussions with the 51-year-old last week. Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi and Bologna's Sinisa Mihajlovic are also candidates for the vacant position.
*For further analysis of Juventus' interest in Didier Deschamps, Zinedine Zidane's problems at Real Madrid, and the summer transfer market please listen to the latest edition of The Transfer Window podcast, which can be found in the link below.
