As La Liga Champions Real Madrid look to freshen up their squad, one player who may be heading out of the Bernabeu is Gareth Bale. The Welsh forward, who has just completed his fourth season in Madrid, probably had one of his more disappointing seasons as Real secured a League and Champions League double.
When Gareth Bale signed for Real Madrid in 2013, he settled into life at the Spanish giants really quickly. At the time, the 85M Real paid Tottenham Hotspur for his services was a world record transfer fee and in his first season, he made 27 starts and scored 15 goals. Things continued in this vein and his best season was probably 2015/16 when he made 23 starts, scoring an impressive 19 goals.
Now, with Los Blancos looking to freshen up their front line by adding Monaco’s young sensation Kylian Mbappe, they may have to make room by offloading one other.
It’s hard to see superstar Ronaldo moving on, even though recently he has threatened to quit Spain over a wrangle with the tax authorities. Alvaro Morata has emerged as an important part of the Real squad and with 15 goals in their double winning season, he became the second top scorer at the club, behind Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, although having a quiet season by his standards with just eleven goals, it’s believed manager Zinedine Zidane sees him as an integral part of the squad.
So, will Gareth Bale be deemed surplus to requirements and sold to balance the books? In a season which was interrupted by numerous injuries, he made just 17 appearances for Real Madrid this season and contributed with his lowest goal tally so far, which was 7. Rumour has it that club president Florentino Perez is running out of patience with the 27-year-old who was once seen as the long-term successor to Christiano Ronaldo.
Should he be moved on, there will be no shortage of clubs willing to shell out for the prolific forward. Manchester United have already been heavily linked with a move for his services. And, given the fact that they are extremely light in the forward department, a move to Manchester may suit both parties.
Whether or not Bale will be playing in Madrid next season remains to be seen, however, should any club have the fully fit version of Gareth Bale which hasn’t been seen too much lately, they know, should he recapture the form that seen him break the transfer world record, he will strike fear into any defence he comes up against.
Compete against the best fantasy football managers at www.eurofantasyleague.com.
To play just the Spanish fantasy football game, go here http://fantasy-liga.com
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com