French prankster intends to join the Florentino Perez revolution

A few weeks ago, Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was adamant that Franck Ribery would not leave the Bundesliga club this summer.

The handsome midfielder was present at Bayern’s first day of  training yesterday, but French daily sport paper L’Equipe believe he used the opportunity to drop a bombshell on new manager Louis van Gaal. Apparently, Ribery has expressed an interest in joining his national team-mate Karim Benzema at Real Madrid:

[Translated from French]

Ribery told L’equipe of his desire to move elsewhere: “It’s decided, I want to leave.”

When asked whether he intended to move to Real Madrid, or whether it was another club he wanted to go to, he spontaneously replied: “Yes, it will be Real or nothing.”

Die Roten’s general manager Uli Hoeness was not surprised by Ribery’s attitude, reasoning that “Life is not always a fairytale.” The former German striker, however, made it clear that the club will do everything in their power to keep their star player:

“Real representatives have wanted to come to Munich and we have made it clear they would be better off saving the cost of the tickets.

“We do not need their money and we will keep Franck against all odds.”

Madrid are said to have reserved €55m to purchase Ribery, who has been persuaded to move to Spain by his friend and Madrid’s International relations representative Zinedine Zidane.