Bale-Real Madrid comments ‘taken out of context’, says agent

Lewis Oldham
Gareth Bale Real Madrid F365
Gareth Bale with Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane

Jonathan Barnett, the agent of Gareth Bale, has insisted that his comments about returning to Real Madrid next season have been “taken completely” out of context.

After a phenomenal couple of years at Spurs between 2011 and 2013, Bale joined Real Madrid in a world record-breaking deal. The Welshman made the move for a fee of around £85m.

The forward has gone onto have seven years with the Spanish giants. He has 105 goals from 251 appearances in all competitions for Madrid.


OPINION: England’s brilliant youngsters deserve a far better guardian


Bale made a big impact for Madrid, as he got on the scoresheet in the finals of the Champions League and Copa del Rey.

The 31-year-old has won the Champions League four times with Madrid. He also helped them to win the league title twice, as well as one Copa del Rey.

The attacker fell down the pecking order at Madrid as a result of a falling out with Zinedine Zidane. He looked likely to move to China in 2019, but that move never came to fruition.

He did leave last summer, though, as he rejoined Tottenham on loan. His return season for Spurs has been up and down so far.

Bale has struggled with injuries so his game time was very limited during his first few months back in England.

But he has featured more of late and he has started to show the kind of form he had at Madrid and the first time around at Tottenham.

Bale has ten goals and three assists from his 25 outings this season. Included in this are braces in the Premier League against Burnley and Crystal Palace.

His loan move to Spurs did not include an option to buy, so Bale’s future is still up in the air as we head into the final months of the 2020/21 campaign.

Bale is currently on international duty with Wales. In a recent interview, as cited by ESPN, he appeared to confirm that his future lies with Madrid:

“The original plan was to do a season at Spurs and after the Euros still have a year left at Real Madrid. My plan is to go back and that’s as far I’ve planned, to be honest.”

But Bale’s agent, Jonathan Barnett, has been quick to rule out these claims. He has suggested that these comments have been “taken completely out of context” and that it is “too early” to discuss the player’s future.