Murphy: Time for Bale to leave Real

GARETH Bale has been urged to stop wasting the remaining years of his career by staying at Real Madrid.

The advice has come from leading pundit Danny Murphy, who played with Wales ace Bale when he was coming through as a youngster at Spurs and remains a huge admirer of his talent.

Murphy wants to see Bale feature for Real Madrid in this week’s big Champions League return clash with Manchester City.

But he accepts that isn’t going to happen because Real boss Zinedine Zidane continues to ignore Bale.

“The £350,000-a-week question is what the Welsh star should do next,” Murphy wrote in a column for the Mail.

“He seems to be digging his heels in, aware that the bumper contract Real gave him still has two years to run.

“I understand the principle, but would still urge him to reconsider.

“You are a long time retired and I’d hate for Gareth to look back with regrets.”

Murphy once took a pay cut to join Tottenham from Charlton because ‘it felt right professionally’ and then joined Fulham from Spurs just to get game time.

“Playing football was always more important to my happiness than the next pound,” he wrote.

“I signed for Charlton after I left Liverpool but when things were a bit rocky with Alan Curbishley, Spurs came in at a lower salary offer.

“For me, my wellbeing came from playing football so I agreed. It’s also why I joined Fulham from Spurs.

“Gareth has the right to his own decisions but I’d be surprised if he was truly going to be happy sitting on the bench for two years, even if he likes the climate and golf.

“We moan about players being disloyal so Bale can be congratulated for wanting to stay.

“He probably loves the club and Madrid, if not the manager.

“But there does come a point where you are wasting months and years of your career, and passion for the game should overtake everything else.”

Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett continues to insist the Wales superstar is going nowhere.