The love affair between Zinedine Zidane and Juventus Turin was the occasion for a very good financial operation for the Italian club.

Revealed to the world at Girondins de Bordeaux, notably thanks to the Bordelais' epic run in the UEFA Cup during the 1995-96 season, Zinedine Zidane took on another dimension at Juventus Turin, where he arrived in the summer of 1996 for 35 million francs (5.3 million euros).

Although he became one of the world's best players in Piedmont, even winning the Ballon d'Or in 1998 following France's World Cup victory, Juventus nonetheless agreed to let him leave for Real Madrid in 2001. This departure was a bitter pill to swallow for the Bianconeri fans, a topic recently revisited by Luciano Moggi, former general manager of the Turin club, in an interview with ABC.

And according to the former executive, Zinedine Zidane's transfer had become inevitable due to the financial difficulties of Juventus and Fiat, its owner. "We were thinking about overhauling the team, and even though he was a fantastic player, Fiat wasn't doing well and we had to sell to generate a profit," he explained.

He became the most expensive player in the world

The interest of Florentino Perez, the new president of Real Madrid, was therefore a godsend . "I met Florentino Pérez when he was about to present himself as president of Real Madrid. He came to see me and asked me if he could use Zidane's name in case of victory. I said yes, no problem," he explained.

“The initial price was 70 million lire, but I ultimately got double that (around €80 million), ” he recalled . “Both parties were satisfied. They made an excellent investment because, in addition to their on-field performance, they did a remarkable marketing job.”

Despite the €80 million investment, which made Zinedine Zidane the most expensive player in the world, Real Madrid never regretted the operation, the Marseille native quickly becoming a legend of the Merengue club, both on the field and on the Madrid bench.