Gareth Bale transfer news: Agent claims Zinedine Zidane has never liked Real Madrid player after China move blocked
Wales international looks set for a season of frustration in Madrid after a lucrative move to Chinese side Jiangsu Suning was blocked over the weekend
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Your support makes all the difference.Gareth Bale’s agent has continued his criticism of Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane by claiming that he has “never” liked the Welshman, a week after labelling the club legend “a disgrace” for trying to force Bale into a summer transfer.
The situation surrounding Bale’s future took a surprise turn on Sunday when Madrid pulled the plug on a lucrative move that would have seem the forward join Chinese side Jiangsu Suning for a deal worth more than £1m a week.
The U-turn – which came from Madrid president Florentino Perez who did not want to let £89m-signing Bale leave on a free transfer – has infuriated the former Tottenham forward’s camp given that it was the club who were forcing the 30-year-old to leave.
Addressing the latest rift between manager and player, Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett believes that Zidane’s preference to replace the Wales international stems from the first day that he took over at Madrid, claiming that they have not built a relationship during their time together despite this being the fourth season that they have both been at the Bernabeu.
“It's simple, Zidane doesn't like Gareth,” Barnett told Le Journal du Dimanche.”There's no relationship between them. There never has been.”
Speaking to ESPN last weekend, Barnett was scathing in his response to Zidane’s public outburst that the sooner Bale was gone, the better it was for all parties involved.
“Zidane is a disgrace,” he said. “He shows no respect for a player that has done so much for Real Madrid.”
Bale scored in the Champions League final wins over Atletico Madrid and Liverpool in 2014 and 2018 respectively as well as in the penalty shootout win over their city rivals in 2016, but that has not been enough to convince Zidane that he deserves a place in his squad this season even though he has been a part of their pre-season matches.
But the serious injury suffered by Marco Asensio could also be behind Perez’s decision to block Bale’s exit, with the Spain international set to miss the bulk of the season due to a knee ligament injury which will leave Zidane without one of his key attacking threats.
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