Gareth Bale is ready for his final season with Real Madrid. No matter how this one goes, there is simply no chance of him renewing with the club, and I think everyone knows that. It’s fine, though, I’d just love to see it end on a high note. Gareth Bale, while not at the peak of his powers, is still a good player and could produce good numbers for the club, sort of like a last hurrah.
Currently, Real Madrid’s options at right-wing are essentially Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio, and Rodrygo (assuming Takefusa Kubo will be loaned out and Lucas Vazquez will play as back-up to Carvajal). Out of these three, whom do you see as the most competent and useful player?
I can probably see Rodrygo making a strong case to start for Real Madrid, but even though he can play well at right-wing, I think he should get more chances to play on the left, as I’ve explained here.
But it’s well established that Rodrygo probably won’t get a lot of game time there, so at the end, whether we like it or not, he will be competing with Bale for the starting spot on the other flank. Asensio hasn’t been good on the right, and I don’t see Ancelotti playing him all that much there.
So, it’s between Bale and Rodrygo, at least according to me. Here’s why I think he will get the nod for the season.
Gareth Bale played well in Real Madrid’s friendly vs Milan
Okay, I know it’s not best to predict a season off of a single friendly; I know. But, if that’s the sample size we get, We’ll have to roll with it. Gareth Bale had a great half against Milan. He looked good, comfortable on the right and had some freedom to roam with the ball centrally. He tried to create chances for Luka Jovic and Rodrygo, and in general was doing really well to link up with the attack and midfield.
The Welshman also swapped wings a couple of times and whipped in a few dangerous crosses. If this is any sort of indication to what we’ll actually get from Bale, I think he’d be a good fit.
As I said, he was trying to do things with the ball centrally, which isn’t something we got to see from him all that much under Zinedine Zidane, especially after the 2015/16 season. He took a few shots from long range, a couple were on target, a couple were not. But, I loved seeing him showing the intent to do stuff like that and not be afraid of the outcome. This was a rare occurance a couple of seasons ago.
One of those central runs in behind the defense is what won him the penalty as well. True, the penalty wasn’t great, by any means, but it was so refreshing to see him actually be involved in the passage of play.
Ancelotti knows how to get the best out of Gareth Bale
Of course, Ancelotti makes it a lot easier. If you remember (and I think you do), Bale played some of the best football of his career under Ancelotti, so the Italian knows what to do to get the best possible version of him. Bale was everywhere under Ancelotti, he used to put up great numbers in every single department, and he formed a great partnership with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.
I don’t expect Ancelotti to unearth that version of Bale, simply because I don’t think that version exists anymore. That version was “twenty-something-injuries-and-a-deteriorating-relationship-with-the-club” ago, and he’s not coming back. But, we can see the best possible version of him under a guy who knows what he’s doing with the player.
Zidane wasn’t a huge fan of Bale during his time at Real Madrid, but I think Ancelotti was, even though Bale’s superstardom made things very difficult for the Italian coach. I doubt Bale has that much leverage or power anymore, so Ancelotti will be able to do things his way this time around.
Plus, Ancelotti doesn’t have to play him in every single game. If Bale isn’t performing that well, there are other options. I just think that this time, Bale would be a better fit than other players in the squad. Ancelotti does really well with inverted wingers, so it’ll be interesting to see how much he can get out of Bale in his last season at Real Madrid.
Gareth Bale had a great season – scoring-wise – at Tottenham
In this article, I explained why it’s not fair to expect Bale to be productive like he was at Spurs last season. Long story short: I talked about how there is a huge difference in defending styles of Premier League and La Liga. He probably won’t get as much space in La Liga, which will result in worse output. But, even then, I think he would be a better choice than other wingers.
Marco Asensio only scored four goals while playing as a right-winger last season, according to FBref. He had zero assists, and was largely a bystander who was there just to pass the ball around. Everyone was expecting him to play well after his spirited return from injury against Valencia in 2020. That didn’t happen, clearly.
Rodrygo’s season was hampered with injuries, but even then he didn’t perform as well as he could have. That may be because of not getting consistent minutes. In the games he played at RW, he had two goals and five assists. It’s not a great return, and more is expected from the Brazillian even at that position.
Gareth Bale should be able to contribute more than that. He scored 16 goals last year, which was a great return when you consider the number of minutes he played. I expect him to score around 10 goals and get a few assists as well, which is much more than what we’ve got from our right-wingers in the last few seasons.