Real Madrid: Five players who are in their final season with the club

Gareth Bale

The next name on the list is that of Gareth Bale, with the Welshman’s contract set to expire in 2022. The speedy winger will be finally leaving the club after nine years on contract with Real Madrid, and this contract expiry is something for which a lot of board members are waiting.

Bale had a fantastic 2020/21 season at Tottenham Hotspur, with him scoring 16 goals at the club where he played before joining Real Madrid. He continued the form with a good start to the 2021/22 season at Real Madrid, but nothing will change Real Madrid’s decision of letting go of Bale in the summer of 2022.

And there are two factors behind the decision: Bale’s wages and fitness. Gareth earns 17 million euros per year, and he’s the second-highest earner at the club. Given that the club is trying to sign at least one of Mbappe and Haaland, some names have to be cleared off the wage bill. And fitness-wise, Bale is still one of those players whose fitness is never guaranteed, at the age of 32. Even now Bale is currently diagnosed with a hamstring injury, and he might not be available for 8-10 weeks.

Until the 2018/19 season, Gareth Bale was one of the best Real Madrid players, with the Welshman having made a name for himself as a player who can win you trophies. But ever since his failed transfer to Jiangsu Suning in the summer of 2019, his relations with the club haven’t been the same, and differences with Zidane didn’t help his case.

Since then Real Madrid have always tried to part ways with Gareth Bale, but the Welsh captain and his agent Jonathan Barnett have been adamant that Bale will not leave until Real Madrid, and they will respect the contract he has until 2022, with the huge extension being signed in 2016. Next summer will be the time he will be finally leaving Real Madrid, with question marks being raised about the player’s continuity as a footballer after the 2022 World Cup.