Real Madrid: Is Gareth Bale a villain?
We find ourselves in the middle of a transfer window and yet again we find ourselves looking at news everyday about Gareth Bale’s future with Real Madrid. This time though, it’s more intensified given the massive overhaul at the club. Many fans continue to wonder though: Why is Gareth Bale still at the club?
No matter what side you find yourself on during this long, drawn out situation, it’s quite difficult to deny that the microscope finds itself following the Welshman wherever he goes.
That could be because that same microscope continues to find various ways to feed that narrative that Bale should be leaving the club. Maybe it’s because the man who was once dubbed as the “Prince of Wales” during his earlier years at the club is a very private person and does everything he can to keep it that way.
Some of the shocking reasons as to why many fans want to see Gareth Bale leave the club are that he plays golf in his free time, which I simply cannot see as a legitimate reason to want a player to leave.
Other than a couple instances where the media blamed his poor performance or attitude on the fact that he plays golf – which I simply do not buy into – the player has always respected his commitment to the club.
Another reason is that he has been playing as though he doesn’t care anymore. Even though I can see where many are coming from with that, it wasn’t my first thought when seeing the player throughout the second half of last season. What I saw was a man who seemed deflated to a certain extent.
He isn’t stupid and he knows exactly what goes on in everyone’s mind, but what gets to him the most is the fact that he knows he hasn’t been performing at his best and couldn’t reach the level he wants to be at.
That can hurt anyone regardless of profession and in a season where so much pressure was put on his shoulders, he is very aware of the fact that he couldn’t reach the levels he had to. My question here is, who did?
Marcelo, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric (the Balon d’Or winner in 2018), Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, and many others at the club had a horrible season and none of them were able to reach the levels any of us are accustomed to.
Now, you may bring up the fact that Bale hasn’t been at his “level” for a couple years with one of the years being him showing up in yet another massive match, scoring two goals as a substitute in the UEFA Champions League Final against Liverpool and I’ll tell you that even as a mediocre football player, if no one around you performs well, it affects you unless your name is Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
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A third reason is the fact that Zinedine Zidane “clearly” doesn’t want him and that can be seen by the fact that the manager reportedly left last summer because his demands to sell Bale would not come to fruition and that Los Blancos were selling Cristiano instead.
Once the manager returned, things did not seem to change and he hasn’t depended on the player for the last few matches and did not even give him a proper send-off (if he was to leave).
My simple response to that is the player and manager are the only two completely aware of the situation and everything else is just speculation. If Bale stays, it would be because he convinced Zidane that he could be a part of the upcoming campaign.
Now, we go forward to reach my three personal favorite reasons surrounding Bale. His injuries, his inability to either speak Spanish or join into the Spanish culture and more recently, his reluctance to leave even though he has a massive wage.
Yes, Gareth Bale is extremely injury-prone but how is that his fault? Bale has actually been working on staying healthy and being able to rest his body after matches to avoid any further injuries. He has been getting injured less frequently and has been missing fewer matches because of it.
Also, Real Madrid is fortunate enough to have sufficient back-up for when anyone in the squad has to miss matches, but Bale has been available more times than not and missed a lot of games simply because he wasn’t selected.
There are people who are more injury-prone than others because of their build and that is something he is being blamed for. Yes, there are arguments that he should leave because of the amount of injuries he suffers – which is fair in general – but his abilities can cover for that.
When Bale arrived at the club, he was actively trying to speak Spanish and has learned a lot along the way. When Marcelo came out and said, “Bale doesn’t say much and only speaks English,” it caused havoc and everyone decided to buy into that and say the player doesn’t care enough about the team to actually bother learning the language.
This is peculiar since we have seen him speaking Spanish in the past, he is constantly posting about the team and this cannot possibly be a reason for wanting his departure. The funny thing is, if a player such as Karim Benzema found himself in this mess, it wouldn’t really be much of a problem. In the end, his ‘talking’ on the pitch is what matters and that once again, continues to be ignored.
As for his reluctance to leave, I find it absolutely shocking that this is something we are blaming him for. Right before working on this article, I saw a tweet that said the Welshman should play for Castilla next season if he really wants to stay while a reply to that said that he may even get benched there.
The disrespect for a player who has been integral in helping Real Madrid win three consecutive Champions League titles is astonishing.
If Gareth Bale wants to stay and fight for his spot, that is 100 percent his right. The wage is part of a contract that he agreed to which was given to him by president Florentino Perez. They were the team that put the number on the paper and he agreed to it.
So, if the team willingly decided to pay him as much as they are, why are we turning on him when he wants to fight for a spot in the team rather than move on? In many cases, this is applauded and encouraged by fans at other clubs but here, well, let’s just say things are different with Real Madrid and most of the time, there is no reason why it should be.
We are here speaking about a man who has given us so much while many of us choose to focus on saying that he hasn’t given enough. Well, that has to be re-worded.
He has given us fans more than enough, but he has the capabilities of giving more, which in all fairness, he hasn’t been able to at times. As a fan, you have the right to want certain players out of the team but that does not mean you should ensure he isn’t respected on his way out after all that he has given this club.
What can we expect from the rest of Real Madrid’s transfer window?. dark. Next
It is really sad to see the treatment he’s receiving as everyone around him continues to focus on every possible negative and completely ignore the positives. What’s worse is that if he does stay, that won’t change and all good will be shadowed by bad.
He knows that and he wants to stay. He wants to fight. Yet, you cannot even respect him for that anymore? Why?
As I mentioned earlier, you as a fan have the complete right to want players either at the club or not, but you have no reason to ensure that he receives this amount of disrespect after all he has given us.
Gareth Bale should leave this club being congratulated for all he has done but unfortunately, that won’t happen. He is and will always continue to be a villain at Real Madrid and the one all fingers are pointed at when all goes wrong and that is extremely disappointing to see at a club I have grown up loving and respecting.