“He’s excellent” – Zidane urges patience on Juventus struggler, praises Yildiz & Tudor | OneFootball

Juventus and Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane believes Jonathan David needs some time to adjust to his new surroundings.

The 25-year-old established himself as one of the deadliest strikers in Ligue 1 during his five-year spell at LOSC Lille. He is also the all-time top goalscorer in the Canadian national team, despite his relatively young age.

Nevertheless, the new Juventus signing hasn’t been able to set the Allianz Stadium ablaze just yet. Since his arrival, he has been sharing a starting spot with Dusan Vlahovic, and fellow new arrival, Loic Openda, as none of these three options has managed to lock down an automatic spot in Igor Tudor’s lineup.

Zinedine Zidane backs Jonathan David to shine at Juventus

Aside from netting the opener against Parma on the first day of the Serie A season, David has been unable to find the back of the net.

Nevertheless, Zidane insists that David will eventually come good. While the French icon went on to cement himself as one of the greatest players to don the famous black-and-white jersey, his first few months in Turin were rather underwhelming.

“David is excellent, I’ve seen him with Lille in recent years,” said the 53-year-old in his interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport via IlBianconero.

“He just needs time. I didn’t understand anything in my first three months in Turin. David needs to understand Juve, and the coach must be important to him: trust and time are required. I’m sure he’ll score many goals, like Vlahovic and Openda.”

Zidane opens up on Tudor, Yildiz & Scudetto race

Zidane also reserved praise for his former teammate, Tudor, as  well as Juve’s current No.10, Kenan Yildiz.

“I had a good relationship with Igor at Juventus. He was a good player and knew how to make friends.

“I’m not surprised to see him on the Juventus bench; a few years ago, he did well in a complex environment like Marseille. He could be the right man to bring back trophies for Juventus, but it takes patience and time. His Juventus has character and unity; he just needs to have faith.”

“Yildiz is doing great. He entertains me. Whenever he touches the ball, you can see he enjoys the game. He’s got goals in his feet and a great shot. If I met him, I’d tell him to stay on this track.”

Finally, the legendary playmaker didn’t rule Juventus out of the Serie A title race, while revealing he’ll attend the Champions League clash between his two former employers in Madrid.

“Juventus will also fight for the Scudetto. In Serie A, there’s not much of a gap between the top teams.

“Real Madrid vs Juventus is my favourite match. I’ll be at the Bernabeu to watch it, we’ll see how it goes.”