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ZIDANE HEADED TO BULLS?

By MARK EVERSON

This fuels already-rampant speculation that the red-carded, head-butt bull may soon become a Red Bull.

By selling their runaway top goal-scorer for spending dough, the Red Bulls are paving the way to bring a star like Zinedine Zidane to the Meadowlands.

The Red Bulls and MLS are shipping striker Jean Philippe Peguero, whose six goals are double the team's runner-up, to Brondby of Denmark. The transfer fee may run as high as $1.2 million, giving incoming coach Bruce Arena some much-needed cash to make moves.

"I'm sure we'll be looking at some people. There's nothing specific right now," interim coach Richie Williams said after last night's 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Wizards at Giants Stadium.

Peguero sat out last night, giving the Red Bulls their first three-game, regular-season winning streak since 2004. Keeper Jon Conway provided them a third straight shutout for the first time since 1996.

Peguero, a 24-year-old acquired in April from Colorado, fell out of favor when Mo Johnston was fired as Red Bulls coach June 27. He scored six goals in his first seven games with the Red Bulls, but was blanked in what appear to be his final five games with the team.

Arena takes over Aug. 12 from Williams, having been named coach last week after guiding the U.S. in the World Cup. Arena was mentioned as a possible Brondby coach earlier this year, one possible connection Peguero sale.

Youri Djorkaeff is due back this week to the Red Bulls from a personal leave in France, and there has been speculation that he may have been lobbying Zidane to cross the ocean. Zidane was France's retiring World Cup captain who was goaded into a head-butt that led to his ejection from the final against champion Italy.

Without Peguero, the Red Bulls squared the record of Williams at 3-3-1. They scored all they needed when Mike Magee ran onto Seth Stammler's feed from a right flank rush and popped his third past Wizard keeper Bo Oshoniyi in the 25th minute.

"What can you do?" Williams asked of having to alter his lineup late. "You show up and have guys like Mike Magee [do it]."

There will be more help coming soon.

mark.everson@nypost.com

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Zero chance of Zidane coming to NYRed Bulls

Just when the empty rumors regarding Red Bull New York's quest to sign Brazilian star Ronaldo had finally faded away, the team has been linked once again with a Real Madrid star.

Two New York newspapers have reported on the Red Bulls' alleged pursuit of French star midfielder and World Cup villain Zinedine Zidane. According to league sources, reports that the team is close to signing Zidane are false.

The Red Bulls made preliminary inquiries about the 1998 World Cup winner earlier in the year but the team gave up after it became clear that Zidane had no interest in joining friend and former France teammate Youri Djorkaeff.

Also, the imminent departure of Haitian forward Jean-Philippe Peguero won't provide the salary cap space and allocation money to precipitate Zidane's arrival. If the Red Bulls had been able to lure Zidane to play in MLS, the league would not have let the team's salary cap status stand in the way. What is often forgotten about MLS regulations is that teams don't play under a true salary cap, but rather a salary budget that can be exceeded under special circumstances. Needless to say, Zidane coming to the Red Bulls would have been a special circumstance.

Alas, Zidane won't be coming to play at Giants Stadium any time soon.

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