Perez plans Zidane pursuit

Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez plans to make Juventus and France ace Zinedine Zidane the club's big summer signing this year.

Perez feels that it is better to splash out on a top-name player than buy an average star with potential and sees Zizou as the missing piece in the Real Madrid side.

Perez told regional television channel TeleMadrid on Monday night: "It's far wiser to spend £37million on someone like Luis Figo than £12million on another player. With big stars, Real Madrid can project an image of one of the leading clubs in the world. This club will only sign the best players in the world and Zidane is the best, without any shadow of a doubt."

Perez has ordered sports manager Jorge Valdano to open negotiations with Juve for the French star at the end of the month. Juve may be willing to offload one of their top stars and Zidane could be the fall guy after he upset club chairman and Fiat supremo, Giovanni Agnelli, by recently taking on an advertising campaign for rival car manufacturers, Ford.

Another reason that Zidane may be tempted by Real Madrid's offer is that his wife, Veronica, is from Almeria and may relish the chance to return to her home country.

Bringing Zidane to the Bernabeu will cost Real Madrid around £37million, but the Spanish giants could include midfielder Claude Makelele and/or right-back Michel Salgado in the transfer deal.