Zinedine Zidane cannot guarantee Gareth Bale stays at Real Madrid this summer to alert Manchester United

The club's pursuit of Kylian Mbappe in what would be a world record move has only intensified speculation that one of the famed BBC could leave the Bernabeu this summer

Thursday 27 July 2017 11:57 BST
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Gareth Bale has been linked with a move to Manchester United
Gareth Bale has been linked with a move to Manchester United (AFP)

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Zinedine Zidane wants his star trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to stay at Real Madrid but admits "anything could happen" with a little over a month remaining in the transfer window.

Star man Ronaldo sparked a furore earlier this summer with suggestions he wanted to leave the club in the wake of Spanish investigations into his tax affairs while Bale has been linked with an exit ever since Isco was preferred by Zidane for the Champions League final back in June.

The club's pursuit of Kylian Mbappe in what would be a world record move has only intensified speculation that one of the famed threesome could leave the Bernabeu this summer, with Bale in particular a long-time target for United and boss Jose Mourinho.

And when asked on just that Zidane refused to rule out one of them leaving before the window shuts.

"I hope the BBC stay for this season. I hope everyone remains. I want everyone who is here now to stay...but anything can happen right up until August 31," he said.

Spanish reports on Tuesday suggested Real had agreed a fee with Monaco for Mbappe before the Ligue 1 champions insisted that wasn't the case in a hastily arranged press conference on Wednesday.

Zidane for his part chose to stay coy when quizzed on his interest in the 18-year-old Frenchman.

"I'm the coach, you need to speak with someone else about whether or not it is worth it," he added. "Nothing has happened till now, we have the squad we have."

Zidane was speaking after watching his team lose comprehensively to Manchester City in a pre-season friendly in Los Angeles, a performance that the Frenchman isn't too concerned about despite the result.

Zidane is keen to keep hold of his star trio
Zidane is keen to keep hold of his star trio (AFP)

"I'm not happy with the loss, we didn't play badly," said Zidane. "But it's just a bad result, we've not yet finished our preparations. It happened, we lost, there's no point saying anything else about it. They were superior at key moments."

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