Gareth Bale reportedly wants one last season at Real Madrid

Is the relationship broken beyond repair, or will Gareth Bale get to have a final farewell with the Real Madrid first team?

In each of the past two summer transfer windows, Real Madrid have been unable to find a team willing to sign Gareth Bale permanently. Bale is not the same player he was a few years ago, and he often had injury troubles at Real in 2019-2020. But the biggest complicated issue was his wage, which proved too onerous for most clubs.

Real and Tottenham were able to negotiate a loan deal for Bale, who reunited with the club where he first became a star. However, Bale almost certainly won’t land a permanent deal with Spurs, given that he’s played just 116 Premier League minutes so far this season for the first-place team in the league.

According to a report from Marco Ruiz of AS, Gareth Bale wants a “swansong season” at Real Madrid when his loan deal at Spurs ends. The report mentions that Bale would be more likely to return if Zinedine Zidane leaves at the end of the year, but it also states that Bale could return regardless of his seemingly rocky relationship with Zidane.

At this point, it seems like the majority of fans just want to move on from Bale. They respect everything Bale has done for the team, but the way he performed in the 2019-2020 season was flat-out unacceptable. And after seeing how the team has fought with Zidane amidst pressure and noting how much Zidane has given to the club, I’m sure Madridistas would not want to even consider a scenario in which Zidane leaves and Bale swoops in.

What does Bale have to offer to Real Madrid? His wages are a burden on the team, and he was a distraction for everybody else in the 2019-2020 season. Bale provided little goal-scoring threat or anything exciting, and Real are better off starting Lucas Vazquez, based on what we have seen this season.

But maybe Bale will have a different outlook after a year at Tottenham. Maybe he can impress at full strength and stay at Spurs, but that seems unlikely. Where does he go from here in this economy? Staying at Real and attempting to reconcile with the fans and manager would be making the most of the situation. It is better to see him leave the club officially on a high note.