Gareth Bale (31) has gone from being one of the world’s biggest football stars to being written off and completely out in the cold. Petter Veland points out several reasons why things have gone so awry at Real Madrid.
Gareth Bale is undesirable at Real Madrid, but getting rid of the Welsh star has not been an easy task for the Spanish club. Now, however, he is connected with a return to Tottenham and maybe the saga can finally get a solution for club and player. Wednesday night, Daily Mai reportedthat Bale is as good as ready for the London club.
Bale broke through as a Tottenham player in the period 2007 to 2013, before moving on to Real Madrid. In Spurs, the attacking player was at his best almost impossible to catch up with and one of the Premier League’s best players.
He has also had his moments in Real Madrid and during that time he has won four Champions League titles and two league titles. In recent years, however, the contributions of the superstar on the field have been modest, at the same time as he sits on a salary that is said to be around 30 million euros gross per season, and a contract that still extends two years ahead. Slowly but surely, the relationship between club and player has become icy cold and the situation is now described as a cold war.
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Veland skeptical of form
La Liga expert Petter Veland is therefore a little unsure of what kind of version of Bale Spurs fans can expect, even though the 31-year-old himself has said that he is motivated.
– He plays international matches for Wales and almost always comes back injured every time. There is terribly little he has been in action for Real Madrid in recent months, so I guess he is not in good physical shape, he says to Nettavisen.
SPANISH FOOTBALL EXPERT: Petter Veland follows what moves in Spanish football very closely.
In an interview during the recent international championship period, however, Bale gave a rare interview in which he expressed that he has several years left of his career. The interview has been described as «one of the most honest interviews Bale has given in a long time»And went around the world.
– We almost have to take him at his word, in the interview where he finally opened his mouth, he himself says that he has many good years left and is motivated to play football. That is what he says and then you almost have to believe it, but in practice I do not think he has shown anything special that suggests it, the La Liga expert believes.
Right after the international matches with Wales, however, there were reports in the media that Bale was injured again and had to run his own program, instead of going to regular training.
– Again, you see a pretty clear trend when Bale returns from Wales, then he is usually injured, but there is never an official injury report from Real Madrid and it does every time someone gets injured there. They are, not required by law, but Real Madrid is a member-owned club that in many ways has a mission and a mandate where they must inform their members about what is happening in the club, including by posting injury reports. It never comes to Bale, he says.
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– It tells me that Bale’s so – called injury problems are a pretext for not being in training and are part of the Cold War that has been going on for quite some time now between Real Madrid and Gareth Bale.
Several factors have led to the “Cold War”
La Liga expert Veland says that there is no specific single incident that is the reason why there is now almost a cold war between the Welshman and the Spanish club, but points to a number of incidents that are said to have caused the cold relationship.
– Now it seems as if Bale is a big problem for Real Madrid, and Real Madrid is a big problem for Bale. So we can hope for all parties that they find out about this here. Real Madrid must realize that they may not get much back for him and that they may have to pay some of the salary and then Bale must understand that he can not demand to be paid one hundred percent the two years he has left of the contract, at the same time as he may be paid by Tottenham as well, says Veland in an interview with Nettavisen.
He believes that ever since Bale joined Real Madrid in 2013, there have been various factors that have helped to build on what we now see is about to culminate.
– It may be that Bale did not feel that he was valued as much as he should have been when he actually performed. He was in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo all the time, for both natural and logical reasons. Maybe he felt that he ended up a little too much in the shadows.
– It has always been said, and used as a reason, that he has never been fully accepted among Real Madrid fans. He does what he has to do, but never anything more, and then I think about off the field. It is rare to see Bale in other contexts where he talks warmly about Real Madrid or takes pride in being at the club.
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Veland further says that Bale never shows up at social gatherings with the other players in the club and that he is also not comfortable with appearing in features that will be published on the club’s various social media platforms.
– They say it is because he is not comfortable speaking the language. He can have a conversation in Spanish when there is no camera there, but he is restrained and introverted when he has to speak Spanish on camera, he does not want to do that.
– This is one of several reasons why Bale has become a chicken. The hard-nosed fan feels that he is not proud enough to play for Real Madrid. Being a Real Madrid player, you should “own” it, you should be extremely proud of it, says Veland.
– Has been swept under the rug
Veland believes that the club and the fans could live with this Bale behavior as long as it went well on the field, but lately the cup has started to overflow.
– This was a problem that was swept under the rug when he actually performed very well, but now it is starting to get very long Bale has been an important player for Real Madrid. Last season, he was a shadow of himself when he first got the opportunity. This can be understood in many ways, since a transfer to China did not happen, but we are talking here about a player who has an enormously higher salary than what he gives back – or we can say what he gets the opportunity to give back – but in the last calendar year, Bale has scored one goal for the club, in the cup, against a team from level four, Veland says.
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– It is the only goal he has scored lately and now he has not scored for Wales for quite some time. Now you can no longer praise Bale for what he does on the field, as you could do before.
Bale + Mourinho = God match?
Although Bale has been icy cold at Real Madrid for a long time, Veland does not think a transfer to Tottenham is necessarily the dumbest idea.
He believes, for example, that manager José Mourinho has some qualities that can bring out the best in the 31-year-old Welshman. Mourinho has also in previous clubs had a desire to work with Bale.
– We have got a little more impression of how Mourinho is on the training field through the “All or nothing” series on Amazon Prime. Among other things, how he speaks directly to the players and is honest and open about expectations, as with Dele Alli, for example.
ADMERER: José Mourinho has never hidden that he has a sense of Gareth Bale.
Foto: Carl Recine (Reuters / NTB scanpix)
– There were very concrete rumors two years ago that Mourinho, who was then Manchester United coach, wanted Gareth Bale there. So it’s a link that’s a little hot in that way.
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Veland concludes by telling a little about how a return to London and famous funnels can be exactly what can tempt Bale to leave life in Spain.
– What has always been the thing with Bale is that he has never had any need to leave Real Madrid, because he is doing so well in life in general, ie off the field. The family thrives, it is a warm climate, he can play golf, he gets to live in peace.
– That well-being factor can come into play now and, if he finds out that it is time to leave Real Madrid. A return to an environment that he knows, even though there may not be many left from when he last played there, can play into the sentimental plane.
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