Zidane to Galaxy: The Rumor That Won’t Die

By: Laurie | April 30th, 2007

Of course we all know how much I hate to fan the flames of unsubstantiated rumors. How much I detest the thought of passing on information that has dubious underpinnings. How I can’t stand the possibility that I might…

Oh, wait. I’m thinking of somebody else.

Because this is me, and the topic is Zidane-to-Galaxy. And we all know how much even the teensiest iota of an idea that this could happen makes me all shivery inside.

So I bring to you… (Brace yourself, because this is credible…)

A BigSoccer post.

You know. BigSoccer. The bulletin board where I myself could pretend to be Zidane and could send everybody into hysterical conniptions by posting, “Oui. C’est vrai. Je viens.”

Not that I’m saying that anyone would be this devious, of course. Because I have a vested interest in believing that this person is credible. And this person says:

This word is coming straight from Landon Donovan through Brian Ching, don’t ask me how I got this information. It seems Lalas has officially made an offer to Zidane that he is mulling over right now, Adidas covering about 10 million (a year I presume) of the contract. This is definitely the high water mark of the negotiations, now whether we have a breakthrough or not is up to Zidane.

But wait a minute! Before you dismiss this, here’s another BigSoccer post telling us why this has potential:

The poster is a Dynamo fan in Austin.
Not unrealistic he could know someone who knows Ching (or something similar).
The Dynamo have a DP slot they are not using available for trade.
Oh, AEG owns both LA and Houston, so they can trade it to themselves!
In return they will give Houston some “draft picks” or whatever.
It’s really about the money and if Zidane wants to go to LA - which it sounds like he’s been mulling over for a while.
There is no “negotiation window” like with Beckham, so that may be why this has dragged out.

Think about it. A DP slot Houston is not using. And they’re owned by AEG, same as the Galaxy. Because what non-AEG team in its right mind would trade away a DP slot to the Galaxy so we could acquire Zidane and achieve total world domination? I’m not saying this is true, but it is about the only way it could possibly work out. So why not?

Oh, and for the sake of balance, I do have to point out that LASoccerNews has an interview with Frank Yallop about Zidane, and Frank says, “No chance.” And yes, that is a direct quote.

Fine, Frank. Who asked you?

But wait! At the end of the article, it says,

The one caveat that Yallop did add was the chance that Zidane might be wooed by Galaxy management outside of his own knowledge.

“You’ll have to ask [Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas] and Tim [Leiweke],” declared Yallop of such a possibility. “They’re the ones who would be dealing with that.”

So there you go. That must be the only possible explanation. Because that’s precisely the (only) explanation I want to hear.