Real Madrid: It’s time for Gareth Bale to be the star player
By Ben Sundock
Monday afternoon, Cristiano Ronaldo arrived in Turin, Italy to finalize his move from Real Madrid to Juventus. Within the next couple of weeks, forward Gareth Bale will meet with Real’s new manager Julen Lopetegui to discuss his future. Here is what we as fans should expect.
Although it may not seem like it, The Welsh Dragon is entering his sixth season with Los Blancos. In that time, he has featured in nearly 130 matches and scored a stunning 70 goals including the game-winner in the two Champions League Finals and one in the Copa Del Rey final against FC Barcelona back in April 2014.
Even with this lengthy list of accomplishments, Gareth has still never been considered the star in the Spanish capital because of CR7’s gaudy numbers. It is safe to say that with Ronaldo now gone, Bale can be the star on this team.
His raw talent is jaw-droppingly amazing and his ability to score in clutch moments can only be matched by either Ronaldo or Marco Asensio. Plus, being almost 30-years-old and having been around the club for a few managerial changes, that automatically makes the winger a strong candidate to be a leader on this team.
With Manchester United and José Mourinho lurking in the wings trying to coax Gareth to make a return to the Premier League, the former Madrid and Chelsea manager will be rather disappointed when he hears that his top transfer target will not be pushing for an exit.
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Gareth Bale expects to have positive talks with new boss Julen Lopetegui before the preseason gets underway as the Spanish man has told the media that he wants The Welsh international to be a staple in the starting lineup for this season, according to The Guardian.
This will certainly delight Bale as it was his lack of starts in the Champions League that frustrated him and even pushed him to complain about being left out of the starting XI in the Final despite coming on in the second half to score the two deciding goals.
The players who did not play in the World Cup this summer in Russia reported to the Real Madrid training facilities earlier today to go through medical tests and other procedures before beginning work for the new season this week.
Bale was among the 11 players pictured on the medical table. The meeting between him and his new manager should take place sometime before the team heads to the United States in the next couple weeks before playing three preseason matches.
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Yes, the pressure will be higher than it ever has been before, and he has certainly experienced some of that pressure when he was unable to score or stay healthy at times in the last two seasons, but he has learned how to win the affection of the fanbase.
I wholeheartedly believe that Gareth Bale can be the offensive leader at Real Madrid and fill the void that Cristiano has left on the forward line for this season and seasons to come.