Zidane’s next move as France coach may reveal the wizard behind the curtain | Jonathan Wilson

It is apt that the most perplexing football country will now be guided by the most enigmatic of leaders Even in his playing days, Zinedine Zidane seemed unknowable. As a manager, the sense of distance has only grown.

He won three Champions Leagues with Real Madrid without ever giving a sense of what his idea of football looked like.

France are perhaps the most perplexing football country: a squad that teems with such talent that a B team would be serious contenders at a World Cup, that reached three major finals under Didier Deschamps with a sense of unfulfilment, a team that progressed but rarely entranced, or at least didn’t until this summer’s World Cup, when they attacked with gusto and ended up overrun in midfield by Spain.

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