By Tim Stannard

Zizou's successor still TBD

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

In the words of Madonna, time goes by…so slowly.

It’s now been nearly two weeks since a quitting-while-ahead Zinedine Zidane abruptly decided that he saw no future for himself at Real Madrid after winning three Champions League titles in the row.

In the dog-years rule of thumb, a fortnight is about 17 years in Real Madrid’s impatient world with a new potential boss having an in-box stuffed with decisions on what to do with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and maybe even Neymar…and running out of time to plough through them.

The big problem is that the main targets all have jobs already. But another new name has entered the rumor mill and is footloose and fancy-free. That name is Andre Villas-Boas, a former ‘new Jose Mourinho’ who has coached at Chelsea, Tottenham and more recently Zenit, before deciding to take a sabbatical and try out driving rally cars across deserts – as you do.

Aside from Mauricio Pochettino – the number one pick but firmly wedded to Spurs – the other names to have come up since Zizou-Day are Jurgen Klopp, Anthony Scaramucci, Antonio Conte, Chris Hemsworth, Guti, Michel, Cardi B, Michael Laudrup, and even Clarence Seedorf.

Eden warns of hazard of Belgium failing to launch

The World Cup is just four days away but some countries are taking the chance to sneak in some warm-up friendlies including a Belgium side that is quietly going under the radar and will continue to do so in a friendly against Costa Rica on Monday.

However, Eden Hazard has noted that everyone expects big things from a stacked squad – “if we want to do something great, it is now,” exclaimed the Chelsea man. Elsewhere, Senegal is taking on South Korea, a side that has not had the best of build-ups to the tournament with just the single victory in the past five friendlies.

Elsewhere on Monday, some other countries are finally donning their matching suits to be photographed walking down airport steps in Russia – step forward Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, Mexico, Nigeria, Serbia, Switzerland and Tunisia.

Remember to head to the Locker Room at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT as our beIN SPORTS experts give their hot tips for the World Cup.

Nice move for Vieira who leaves for Ligue Un life

French league side, Nice, has finally announced that Patrick Vieira will become the club’s new manager with the former Arsenal midfielder leaving NYCFC over the weekend.

“Our incredibly passionate fans have made this one of the most special experiences I’ve had in football,” said Vieira in his parting comments to the MLS side after a two-year Stateside spell. The move had been leaked by Manchester City’s website over the weekend – the holding group of NYFC – with Vieira taking over the seat left vacant by Lucien Favre who moved to Borussia Dortmund.

The Arsenal legend has been out of the French club game since his departure to Milan from Cannes back in 1995.  

TRANSFER TRACKER!

The current footballing hellmouth of Chelsea could be losing N'Golo Kante to PSG according to rumors. The French midfielder could be just one of a number of players leaving a sinking ship of a club that is not sure who it will have as manager next season and an owner that is currently not allowed into the UK due to visa issues.

One deal that looks done on Monday is the permanent move of Gerard Deulofeu to Watford, after a loan spell at the Hornets last season for the Spanish forward. One Barca problem that won’t go a way though, is Inter declining to bring Rafinha onboard due to a lack of funds. However, Tottenham might be an option for a footballer unwanted at the Camp Nou.

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the latest transfer news and generally made-up stuff.

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The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. Sports Burst is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.