Gareth Bale is set to stay at Real Madrid and be at the front of their new project, according to reports in the Spanish press.
Diario AS claim the Welshman will form a key part of next season’s team, in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and the lack of star first-team signings. The 29-year-old returned to the club’s first-team last week while various reports suggested he was due to hold crunch talks with new Coach Julen Lopetegui.
Bale would reportedly seek assurances that he will become a starter again, having spent much of last season out of the starting fold under Zinedine Zidane. Bale had said he was frustrated at not being included in Real Madrid‘s starting line-up in the Champions League final before coming off the bench to score twice, including a spectacular overhead volley in the 3-1 win over Liverpool to secure his fourth Champions League title since joining Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013.
“I knew I was ready to participate in the match and in the end I did it, it was amazing to get that goal, it was pure emotion. It was one of those things you do not think about, you just react,” he said after the final in Kiev.
Manchester United were rumored to be interested in the Welshman but Craig Bellamy claimed they were put off by the player’s wage demands.
“Man United can’t pay his wages, nobody can. There’s only one club that can pay his wages.
“That’s the world he’s in at this moment. The wages he is he’ll have to take a massive wage cut to go elsewhere.
“And I’m sure he would do but realistically then is someone then going to go and buy him?
“How can a club go and spend £80m, £90m?
“I know Juventus did for Ronaldo but Ronaldo’s a different purpose, that’s a different world of business.
“But Gareth, how can you go and spend £80m,£90m, £100m for a player you’re not going to get any return on?
“Maybe as part of a part-exchange deal but Gareth won’t be part of any part-exchange deals, he’s too good a player for that.
“So I just don’t see it being a possible move for anyone to get anywhere near.”
The departures of Zidane and Bale are said to have been crucial in the change of plan with Bale now set to enter his sixth season at the Bernabeu.