Bayern Munich Will Reportedly Compete with Manchester United for Zinedine Zidane

Bayern Munich are reportedly ready to compete with Manchester United to appoint Zinedine Zidane as the club's next manager. 

According to RMC Sport (h/t Nathan Salt of the MailOnline), with current boss Niko Kovac struggling to get the best from the Munich outfit at the moment the Bavarians are considering potential alternatives, and Zidane is one of them.

It's said Bayern would be ready to "rival" Manchester United for the Frenchman, who left Real Madrid ahead of the current campaign after steering the team to three UEFA Champions League wins in a row.

Also said to be under consideration by Bayern are former Paris Saint-Germain boss Laurent Blanc and ex-long-serving Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

As Salt noted, there has been plenty of speculation about Zidane potentially replacing Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford, with the Red Devils languishing down in eighth place in the Premier League and seven points off the top after eight games.

Given he's out of work at the moment, it's not a surprise to see Zidane linked with a number of high-profile positions.

At Madrid he enjoyed remarkable success, winning the Champions League three times and La Liga once in under three years in charge. Overall, he picked up silverware with regularity in his time in the Santiago Bernabeu hot seat:

Bayern appointed Kovac in the summer after the departure of Jupp Heynckes, with the veteran manager ending a fourth spell in charge in Munich.

It's not been a straightforward start for the ex-Frankfurt coach, though. They've not won in their last four matches and were beaten 3-0 at home by Borussia Monchengladbach in their previous outing. At the moment, the German champions are in sixth in the Bundesliga, four points off the top of the table.

Naturally, there has been scrutiny of his position following this set of results, although club president Uli Hoeness has been adamant the club will back the Croatian in this testing spell:

Zidane being unattached as things stand will make it tempting for any big club struggling to pull the trigger on their manager.

As a player, the Frenchman is rated as one of the finest of his generation, while he made history with his achievements in the Champions League as a coach, too, finding a way to get some of the world's best players operating in a cohesive and effective setup.

Bayern would look at the job Zidane did at Madrid and may potentially feel as though he could be similarly steadying and effective at the Allianz Arena. Additionally, for a team that has only won the Champions League once in the last 17 years, his record in European football's elite club competition is not to be sniffed at either.