Gareth Bale is one of the players often rumored on the transfer mill, but the transfer window has ended, and the forward is still playing for Real Madrid. However, he has claimed he's not "playing happy" for the club.
In the previous window, the Welsh player was poised to leave Real Madrid, but Los Blancos ended up pulling the plug on a deal that would have seen Bale move to Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning.
In an interview with Sky Sports News, Bale talked about his situation at Real and admitted he feels he's been made a "scapegoat."
"I understand I was made more of a scapegoat than most, I take it with a pinch of salt even though maybe it's not all fully fair," Bale said. "I wouldn't say I'm playing happy, but I'm playing, when I am playing I am professional and I am always giving all I can, whether that be for club or country."
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane was quoted saying he wishes for Bale to leave "soon" when asked about the star's future. This could be the reason Bale has resorted to keeping his "head down" when he resumed training with the team pre-season.
Bale's side could have easily arranged for a transfer in the summer, but he ended up playing all three of Real's La Liga games this season. Despite expressing unhappiness with the club, he still managed to become of the key players in the club.
OTD in 2013, Real Madrid unveiled their latest galáctico; Gareth Bale... ∙ 234 games
∙ 104 goals
∙ 66 assists
∙ FOUR Champions League trophies The most-decorated British footballer of his generation pic.twitter.com/7dyloDT5Yx — Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 2, 2019
In spite of Bale's strong presence and the goals he achieved for Real, he has never been completely accepted. In fact, Zidane phased him out toward the end of his first spell in charge.
It's safe to say Bale hasn't won Zidane's favor, but it's clear that his role in Real is still important, at least until January.
Bale hopes to put issues at Real Madrid behind him and will continue to play with the club, and with the Wale's UEFA European Championship coming up, he'll have to set all negativity aside and focus.
On Friday they play Azerbaijan and by Monday, Belarus. Bale is looking to improve their current record of one win out of three games.
