Zinedine Zidane: 'Real Madrid monitoring Raheem Sterling'

Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane has admitted that the European champions are monitoring Raheem Sterling's contract situation at Liverpool.

The French World Cup winner, currently in charge of Real Madrid Castilla, admitted that the 20-year-old is one of several young players from around Europe under consideration for a future transfer at the Bernabeu.

Zidane is quoted by The Guardian as saying: "We know who Raheem Sterling is, and of course we are monitoring him as a player.

"There are very few players in the world who can improve the Real Madrid squad, so it is going to make sense we monitor the progress of the best young players in the world. We monitored [Gareth] Bale for over a year, the same with Isco and also [Raphael] Varane.

"We monitor many of the best young players in Europe, then if we feel they have something to offer Real Madrid we will contact their club and try and make the next step."

Sterling has been heavily linked with a summer departure after rejecting a £100,000-a-week contract extension at Anfield.