Gareth Bale’s future at Real Madrid appears to be in the balance as reports about him being unhappy have surfaced once again.
Reports from Sky Sports claim that Bale is particularly unhappy about his lack of minutes in recent games, with Bale on the bench in two of Real’s last four games.
Bale, 28, was left out of the starting lineup in both of Real’s UEFA Champions League Round of 16 games against Paris Saint-Germain and given Cristiano Ronaldo’s untouchable status at the Santiago Bernabeu, Isco scoring a hat trick during the international break and Karim Benzema a firm favorite of manager Zinedine Zidane, it appears he could miss out against Juventus in a huge week for the reigning European champions.
Bale scored twice for Real Madrid in their win at Las Palmas on Saturday but Zidane refused to confirm if the Welsh international would start in their key UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg at Juventus on Tuesday.
“I’m very pleased with his performance. You’ll have to wait and see if he plays on Tuesday,” Zidane said.
Hot on the heels of these reports of unhappiness from Bale is a claim from the Daily Mirror that Manchester United is ready and willing to offload Anthony Martial to Juventus in order to sign the former Tottenham star.
Martial has dazzled in spells at United but Mourinho doesn’t appear to trust him in big games and the French international, still just 22 years old, may see a move to Juve better for his long-term development given Alexis Sanchez’s arrival at United and Marcus Rashford often preferred to him on the left.
Given Jose Mourinho’s previous comments that he would drive to the airport himself to pick Bale up if there was a chance of Man United signing the Welsh forward, it appears there could be some movement for Mourinho to make an airport run.
Bale has often been targeted by some of Real’s fans amid plenty of rumblings that he hasn’t taken to life in Spain, despite winning three UCL titles in five seasons at the Spanish giants.
Where would Bale slot in at United?
Well, if Martial leaves then a front three of Romelu Lukaku, Sanchez and Bale wouldn’t be bad, would it? Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard would be in reserve and with Juan Mata perhaps moving on this summer, Mourinho seems keen to add more pace to his forward line.
Bale fits the bill and it appears his relationship with Zidane is strained and his five-year sojourn in Spain is coming towards an end. From a selfish point of view, wouldn’t it be great to see Bale back in the Premier League again?