United will bid £75m to lure Bale from Madrid this month
Working with his hero Giggs could seal deal
MANCHESTER UNITED are prepared to make a £75million move for Gareth Bale this month, encouraged by signals from the Real Madrid star’s camp that he is ready to return to the Barclays Premier League. Bale’s future at the Bernabeu has been thrown into doubt following the decision of Real president Florentino Perez to sack head coach Rafael Benitez after seven months in charge. And United are weighing up a renewed effort to sign the Welsh superstar, having maintained a close interest in the 26-year-old since he moved to Spain from Tottenham for a world-record £86m in 2013. Real have received enquiries about Bale from Old Trafford in every transfer window since and United will try again this month, despite accepting that they might
have a better chance i n the summer. Manchester City and Chelsea are the only other English clubs that could afford his £300,000a- week wages. But Bale is understood to favour a move to United if he returns to England.
Ryan Giggs is one of his boyhood heroes and United think that their assistant manager — who is next in line to succeed Louis van Gaal — could be a key figure in attracting his fellow Welshman.
As Benitez departed with a £7m pay-off, new Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane admitted yesterday that Bale is unhappy over the Spaniard’s sacking but vowed to make the player feel wanted at the club.
‘Gareth was disappointed with the sacking of Rafa because he was an important coach for him, but I will treat him the same way Rafa did,’ said Zidane. ‘He is an important player and a key player for the squad. He’s phenomenal and we’re going to give him all the care and support he needs.’
That offer will be appreciated by Bale and his camp, but they would rather have the platform to shine and that isn’t going to happen while Cristiano Ronaldo is around.
It is understood Bale has been unsettled for some time with the political interference at Madrid and resents the influence team-mate Ronaldo wields over the club.
Perez was said to have stepped in to offer him reassurances when he was having misgivings about the situation last summer despite helping Madrid l i ft their 10th European Cup in 2014.
Bale scored Real’s second goal in a 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Final in Lisbon and is comfortable that his time in Spain will be viewed as a success if he returns to England with three years left on a six-year contract.
However, it would be understandable if he is reluctant to leave this month with Real through to the knockout stages again and four points behind Atletico in the title race — even more so after United’s season began to unravel in recent weeks.
Bale is also wary of causing any disruption in the build-up to Euro 2016 this summer after helping Wales qualify for their first major championships.
Manchester United know that their best chance of signing the player will come after that, having seen him slip through their fingers on two previous occasions.
Sir Alex Ferguson made a bid for Bale, then a teenage left-back, in January 2007 but that was rejected by his club Southampton shortly before he moved to Tottenham.
‘ We were di s appointed in Southampton at the time because we were first there, but they never came back to us,’ Ferguson revealed recently.
‘It was not the boy who turned us down, it was Southampton, then a few weeks later he signed for Tottenham. He was a left-back when we tried to sign him. It wasn’t until Harry Redknapp went to Tottenham that he converted him into a wide left player.’
A second attempt was made to sign Bale when David Moyes succeeded Ferguson in t he summer of 2013, but the player’s heart was set on Madrid and United’s fractious relationship with Spurs chief Daniel Levy was seen as too much of an obstacle.
Now there is a growing belief within Old Trafford that it will be third time lucky.
Meanwhile, the appointment of Zidane has drastically changed the mood in Madrid.
The dark clouds literally passed on Tuesday morning when 6,000 supporters made the most of the January sunshine and packed into the Valdebebas training ground for an open training session.
Bale was the only absentee, nursing some muscle fatigue after his part in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Gary Neville’s Valencia when his second-half header so nearly saved Benitez from the sack.
Asked if he felt his glorious past as a player at Madrid would give him more authority than Benitez enjoyed, Zidane said: ‘The role of the coach here is not going to change just because of who I am.
‘ I have to win games. Only winning will do.’
He shied away from comparisons with Pep Guardiola, who went from playing legend to coach at Barca, saying: ‘I never compared myself to anyone as a player and I don’t intend to do that as a coach.’