JOSE MAY HAVE TO BALE OUT

MANCHESTER UNITED may have been dealt a fatal blow in their pursuit of Gareth Bale.

They were hot favourites to land the Wales star following his fall out with Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane and team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.

But with Zidane quitting yesterday, Bale looks certain to stay at the Bernabeu.

It is understood Zidane left after refusing a request from club president Florentino Perez to consider phasing out Ronaldo and instead giving Bale – at 28 five years his junior – a chance for a place in the starting line-up again. Bale – man of the match after his two goals as a sub in the Champions League final win over Liverpool – was tired of being overlooked because of Ronaldo’s influence. He was angry Zidane sided with a player whose form has been indifferent for months and who is coming to the end of his time at the summit of world football. But it looks as though Bale has won this tussle, and Perez will appoint a manager with the mission to plan for the future, and look at moving the club on from Ronaldo’s reign.

That will see a summer bid for Neymar and an attempt to get Bale to stay by offering him a chance to play more regularly, a possibility if Ronaldo leaves.

Real may agree a deal with Paris Saint-Germain to swap Ronaldo for Neymar.

If United miss out on Bale, they may go for West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic. Boss Jose Mourinho (left) watched him play for Austria against Russia on Tuesday.