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- Former playing legend and current assistant manager / ace recruiter, Zinedine Zidane, was the focus of L'Equipe Magazine's Saturday edition. While you'd have to pick it up in newsstands for the full piece, some key points of the interview have been picked up by As and Marca. Tom Conn of Inside Spanish Football also has an interesting take on Zidane's thoughts on dealing with locker room politics. The Frenchman admits that trusting people in management was what kept him away from the job until now. He also is very cognizant of the fact that being a great player does not translate to being a great manager. Luckily for us, he starts under the wing of Ancelotti, a man who has been able to do both in his footballing career.
- Speaking of Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid's new boss has arrived at Valdebebas and is getting the preparations in place ahead of the team's preseason with assistants Zidane and Paul Clement. Training officially starts on Monday the 15th in preparation for the new season. The preseason schedule kicks off at Bournemouth on July 21st. This photo embodies what are now the faces of this managerial era at Madrid.
- Emilio Giraldo of Marca is reporting that Ancelotti is keen on getting to see young winger Denis Cheryshev with his own eyes. Reportedly, Ancelotti's opinion on the player will be deferred to before the player's prospects for the upcoming season are sorted out. The half Russian, half Spanish player has received interest from English and German clubs at this point.
- Raúl Albiol is being reported as a potential target for Rafa Benítez at Napoli. As claims that Benítez, having already swooped into the los blancos roster to nab José Callejón, is interested in either taking former Valencia man Raúl Albiol or current Valencia man Adil Rami as a replacement for the departed Hugo Campagnaro.
Update (17:05 CET): Sami Khedira did an interview with Die Welt. Bernabéu Digital has a Spanish version of the interview available here. Khedira acknowledges last season's failures were the responsibility of both the manager and the players. He says he is happy and proud to be with Real Madrid and has his eyes only on this club. He also says there is nothing to report in terms of him renewing his contract.