Bale pulls out of pre-season tour
Gareth Bale has been left too upset to travel to Munich with the Real Madrid squad after his lucrative move to China was called off by the Spanish club.
Bale, whose team faces his former club Tottenham at the Allianz Arena in the Audi Cup on today, is said to be furious with the way he has been treated by Real manager Zinedine Zidane and president Florentino Perez.
Zidane has made it clear he does not want Bale and will not play him, only for Perez to call off a proposed move to Jiangsu Suning at the 11th hour, leaving the 30-year-old in limbo.
Suning had agreed a deal with Real and Bale, only for Perez to change his mind and demand a fee which scuppered the move.
Bale has not been offered any explanation over the U-turn or any reassurances over his role at Real.
Sources close to Bale do not think an alternative move will materialise this summer, with the Chinese transfer window shutting tomorrow and Suning instead signing Ivan Santini.
That has left Bale convinced he will be left to rot in the Real stands while Zidane remains in charge, despite Perez’s hope that the former France international’s stance can be changed.
Bale’s £600,000 (NZ$1.1 million) per week deal has three years to run, meaning Real Madrid could have to pay him more than £90 million (NZ$166m) not to play.
Zidane does not speak to the Wales international and the relationship between the pair is only likely to have been soured further by the events of the past week or so.
Zidane was branded a ‘‘disgrace’’ by Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett for going public over his desire to get rid of his client. Angry that the move to Suning – which would have earned Bale more than £1m (NZ$$1.85m) a week – fell through, Barnett added: ‘‘It’s simple, Zidane doesn’t like Gareth. There’s no relationship between them.’’