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Zinedine Zidane is a prime example of a once in a lifetime sort of player. An individual who typifies a whole generation of football. You cannot think about football in 90s-00s without remembering Zidane.
The roulettes, the left-footed volley against Leverkusen and that mercurial head butt all but come racing back as you think of the French legend.
The romantics of the game have always tried to keep the legacy of players like Zidane alive. The most obvious way to do that has been passing off any bright youngster with the new “x” tag.
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We are aware of the great Argentine search for the next Maradona and how that had numerous Albiceleste youngsters buckle under the tag and the expectations that go with being the next El Diez.
But luckily with Messi’s rise that ship has sailed once and for all. The French haven’t been that fortunate though.
Still in search for a worthy successor to the throne of Le Petite Zidane we have seen various players been built up and brought down in equal measure as they look for someone to replicate the original master.
We look at some of the past and present candidates who failed to make the cut for the next Zidane auditions.
Yoann Gourcuff
He is perhaps the closest France has come to finding a Zidane replacement. Not only was he seen as the heir to Zidane’s legacy but he had a very similar style and career path to Zidane as well.
Gourcuff’s skills, subtlety, presence on the pitch and his ability to control the team’s tempo were enough for everyone to think of him as ‘the real deal’. Starting his career in France and then moving to Italian shores with AC Milan.
But despite the early billing, he was not able to live up to the tag of the next Zidane at Milan where he had too much competition with the likes of Seedorf and Kaka pulling the midfield strings, it was hard for him to make his mark.
A move back to France saw him get back to his best at Bordeaux where he won a domestic double as well. Soon the enigma behind this next Zidane tag tempted even the European powerhouses to take a note of Gourcuff.
But the Frenchman decided to sign for French rivals Lyon. The move was not as fruitful as expected with injuries being the mainstay of the tenure at Les Gones. His 5 years at the club have not seen him at the creative best.
Now at 28, Gourcuff after various injuries and their setbacks is still working on becoming Lyon’s creative reservoir but surely the charm and the exuberance that had him rated as the next Zidane has evaporated.
Hatem Ben Arfa
Marred by temperament issues this youngster was quick enough to shun people from comparing him to Zizou. Aptly nicknamed “Enfant Terrible” by the media, Ben Arfa has lived to the reputation.
A long history of disputes, fall-outs and injuries sees Hatem Ben Arfa relinquish his candidacy for the next Zidane merry go round. But there is no doubting the talent at hand.
Right from his early day at Les Gones, he was seen as a boy wonder with a sweet left foot. As the next big thing in France, the usual protocol is to be compared to Zizou despite the difference in positional sense and style of play.
Part of ‘Generation 87’, a clique that had various current day players who were pipped to be a golden generation for the French, Ben Arfa at 27 is a long way behind his contemporaries. Currently without a club after debacles at Nice that saw him sign for the club and be ineligible to play for them, Ben Arfa is rumoured to be contemplating retirement.
Samir Nasri
Samir Nasri looked to tick all the boxes when it came to dubbing him as Zidane 2.0. Algerian descent, attacking midfielder, silky skills on the ball and a temperament issue (Yes, you cannot be Zidane’s heir without a short fuse).
But ultimately, as the player himself stated- “There’s only one Zidane just as there was only one Platini.”
Nasri came into his own as soon as Franck Ribery departed from Marseilles leaving the reigns of team’s creativity to Nasri. The midfielder was adept at playing a number of roles in the midfield leading to his move to Arsenal.
The move to English league solidified his image as a creative player with exceptional close control skills and eye for that defense splitting pass.
But whatever good Nasri has been doing on the field has been nullified with what happened off it, particularly in terms of his international career.
Having already announced his retirement from international football this year, it really leaves lot to conjectures as to if he could ever be as influential as the other Marseille-born Algerian that he was touted to take over.
Jeremy Menez
Menez would surely one up Zidane for the Bad boy image that he has cultivated but for consistency not so much. His ability to play anywhere in attack and his skills on the ball made him stand out from the crowd leading to the obvious comparisons.
But Menez’s career has mostly been a highlight reel of his unwillingness to curb down on his “youthful exuberance”, case in point being his latest ban for insulting a referee.
It is instances like these that have seen his career nosedive from a prospective Les Bleus regular to a player looking to revive his career moving to various clubs in order to get his French career back on track.
His initial display at Sochaux caused ripples enough to tempt even Sir Alex Ferguson to consider signing him for United. The talent was no doubt there to be seen but talent is not the only thing that matters, sometimes temperament also has a say in what kind of player one turns out to be.
Menez slowly saw his value well and truly stumbling as he started out on a journey into senior football with Monaco, Roma, and PSG some of the stops where he was peripheral at most.
Menez has had issues and a variety of them, from his selfishness to his indiscipline but the sorry fact remains that his precocious talent, that generation 87 spark has been on and off for majority of his career.
Bruno Cheyrou
Bruno Cheyrou is not the brightest to have made his claim for Zidane’s throne but perhaps the unluckiest to see his reputation torn to pieces due to the comparison.
Signed by French manager Gerard Houllier for Liverpool, the manager's claims of unraveling the next Zidane affected the career path for Cheyrou.
It is not that he was not talented enough for a successful future; with a solid goal to match ratio for his previous club – Lille, the potential was always there.
But a burgeoning Premier League slowly overtaking Spanish and Italian league, was too much for him to live up to the expectations once you have been adjudged as the next Zidane.
With a lackadaisical showing in the Premier League, the French midfielder was shipped back to France by the new Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and ultimately sold to Rennes.
Sofiane Feghouli
Algerian-French creative midfielder with an eye for goal? Sounds like Zidane in the making right? Apart from the comparisons, Zidane himself stated his liking for the player while appreciating his displays for current club – Valencia.
At Valencia, Feghouli has slowly developed into a hub of the team’s attacking tempo and attack, particularly after the departure of big names like Juan Mata and David Silva. But as critics point out Feghouli still has some work left to fulfill these comparisons, particularly his goal scoring prowess.
Currently a regular in his national team and ironically the first ever Algerian to score at the FIFA World Cup, Feghouli at 25 still has time on his side to make a bigger mark on the game than he has till now.
Clement Grenier
Grenier has been touted to be the next big thing from France for a while. Having gained repute with his performances for Lyon, it was obvious that he be compared to the legend himself.
With an ability to play in deep lying creative midfield/ attacking midfield or on either flanks, Grenier has the making of the next Zidane but surely some work is needed to fulfill his potential.
Continuous rumors linking him to a move to Arsenal had people wondering whether if he could be the real deal. But a crippling injury that saw him out of action for a year has slowed him on the path of being the next Zidane.
Though at 24, Grenier would be looking to put in the efforts to recapture those accolades.
Adel Taarabt
Adel Taarabt has long been on the periphery of European football and has yet to live up to his potential let alone emulating Zidane.
Snapped up by Tottenham as “one for the future”, the Moroccan now sees himself playing for a relegated QPR.
At 25 it would be crude to write him off completely as he has shown from time to time that he can step up his game, probably why Milan loaned him last season, but no doubt on the fact that he still has a long way to go.
Famous for his skills on the ball and a penchant for long rangers, some of the traits that make his next Zidane claim plausible but his trouble with discipline sees him in a far off place than the legend.
