It has been a frustrating season for Gareth Bale at Real Madrid, the Welshman ending it as an unused substitute for the 2-0 home loss to Real Betis.
Having finished third in La Liga, 19 points behind champions and fierce rivals Barcelona, and seen their three-year grip on the Champions League ended, Real Madrid face a big summer as manager Zinedine Zidane attempts to rebuild the squad.
Bale said nothing after Sunday’s loss, while Zidane admitted he “did not know” whether the 29-year-old would still be at the club next season.
So what does the future hold for one of Britain’s most successful foreign exports?
Bale was unhappy not to get a chance to play against Betis.
After six years in Spain, during which time he has won 13 trophies and joined Liverpool’s Phil Neal as the most decorated British European Cup winner with four triumphs, Bale has fulfilled a prediction made by those closest to him at the time of his world record £85m move from Spurs –
that he would be a rare example of a British player enjoying the best years of their career outside the UK.
The former Southampton and Tottenham player knows it is by no means certain he will be back next season. And it was felt Zidane was being deliberately awkward in not offering Bale a potential final appearance at a club for which he has played 231 times.
Yet it could also have been part of a power play on Zidane’s part, underlining to Bale the frustrations that will lie ahead should he maintain his current stance of insisting Real stick to the remaining three years of a contract extension signed in 2016 and thought to be worth £350,000 a week
after tax.
