Real Madrid made a ‘big mistake’ when they called off Gareth Bale’s move to China last summer, talkSPORT has been told.
Bale was all set to join Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning on a three-year deal that would have earned him a reported £1million-a-week.
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The Wales international has a notoriously poor relationship with Real manager Zinedine Zidane and his spell with Madrid appeared to be at an end.
The deal was cancelled at the last minute, though, when the LaLiga club demanded a transfer fee for the player, whom they signed for £85m from Tottenham in 2013.
Although Madrid won the title this season, Bale has picked up plenty of headlines including the notorious flag he held up while on international duty that read: ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order’.
Since football’s restart from its coronavirus suspension, the 31-year-old has spent most of his time fooling around on the bench.
The Welshman has been pictured yawning, covering his eyes with his face mask and making fake binoculars with his hands.
Bale was even omitted from the Madrid squad which has travelled to Manchester for their Champions League clash with Man City on Friday.
Zidane later explained that it was actually the winger’s choice not to play.
talkSPORT pundit and European football expert Kevin Hatchard now claims all this drama was of Madrid’s making when they pulled the plug on his move last summer.
He told talkSPORT: “He was all set for Jiangsu, they’d sorted that out. It got to a stage where he thought, ‘I’m not going to play, I might as well move on’.
“Real pulled the plug because suddenly they wanted a fee. Jiangsu walked away and said, ‘we sorted this and suddenly you are asking for a fee right at the end’.
“It was a massive mistake because when Zidane came back that was the end of that, because Zidane has been saying for months, ‘it’s best if he goes. I’m not going to use him’.
“All he gets asked about is Bale.
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“I thought he would just bat the whole thing away and say, ‘look I’ve chosen the players I’ve chosen’, but he’s actually gone, ‘he doesn’t want to play’.
“I think we all know he wasn’t going to be involved anyway, but it’s interesting he’s done that.
“As a former player that’s an unusual move as there are other players in the squad who will now go, ‘I’m not sure about that’.”
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