Madrid stands with Bale

Until his return to Cardiff these days, the last image of Bale with Wales placed him in front of a flag loaded with offense (Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order). The striker returns to the scene of the crime, his national team, without having done any training with Madrid and with all the options of play today Thursday against Finland (8:45 p.m.) 71 days after their last game.

Bale's turnout statistics are starting to look staggering. Since March he has only played 110 minutes divided into two games. Charges 15 million net in the and continues to be the biggest problem in terms of exits. The club has decided to stand. He wants to organize a meeting with the player's representative, Jonathan Barnett, to openly discuss his situation, since he has two years left on his contract and it does not count for Zidane. On the other hand, the club does not want to give it away either, in a last attempt to obtain some capital gain from the transfer.

Polled by this newspaper, the agent claims to have no news that this meeting is scheduled or any interest in its occurrence. The reality is that, beyond what he can charge, the footballer's private sponsors (such as BT, with whom he shot a campaign in recent days in which he challenged Madrid himself) pay much more if he wears the white shirt. “There are not many teams, in principle, that can afford Bale,” they insisted to AS from their representative agency just a few days ago when Tottenham sounded as a destination.

The truth is that Bale seems different with Wales. He appears euphoric in all the photographs, oblivious even to the installed debate as to how his participation in the Eurocopa next summer will be if he does not have minutes in Madrid. “It will not have preferential treatment,” Giggs said yesterday.

In Madrid it does not seem a concern that he can play and be injured, since he does not have him, but he has emphasized the player's environment so that he does not have public slights with the entity. Everything that comes from there actually has an air of defiance or attack. Even Giggs's words. “I have not spoken with Zidane about his situation. My French and Spanish are not good and I know, from experience, that neither is his English ”. Today, 71 days later, Bale writes a new chapter of his career in Helsinki.