Craig Burley has claimed that Tottenham transfer target, Gareth Bale, ‘doesn’t care’ if the Real Madrid fans want to give him a send-off or not, as he told ESPN.
In what would have been his final game at the Santiago Bernabeu, but Bale was absent as Real Madrid recorded a goalless draw against Real Betis on Friday.
The 32-year-old is out-of-contract at Real in the summer, and next week’s Champions League final against Liverpool, he is set to be his bow out of Spanish football.
Bale made a name for himself at Spurs, returned to the club on loan last season and there are now suggestions he has agreed to re-join again for next season.
Whilst the Welshman can sit back and enjoy the legacy he helped create at Madrid, in truth, it’s all ending in a pretty bitter way because his relationship with the club and its fans has turned very sour for a long while now.
Former Scotland international Burley made it clear that the player himself has decided to end it this way and nobody else.
“He has chosen this ending, hasn’t he?” said Burley. “He has chosen for it to happen this way.
“Yeah, he might not have been playing a lot of the time and he has had some injuries.
“But he has clearly been in front and has basically been saying, ‘I don’t particularly care whether the fans give me a send-off, like me or whether he is or isn’t going to be at the stadium’.
“For all that great achievement, and I have been a huge fan of his. I watched him play at Spurs and all these games. He has chosen to end it sourly himself.
“He could have helped himself, but he’s clearly not fussed if he gets a send-off or not – he’s happy to give his all for Wales, but happy for his Madrid career to peter out.”
WHAT DOES BALE HAVE LEFT IN HIS TANK IF HE RE-JOINS TOTTENHAM?
As Antonio Conte has proven, he is going to demand 100% and nothing else from his players.
So, if Bale does indeed join Spurs, is he capable of playing at the level of intensity the highly-charged Italian wants him to?
Under Jose Mourinho, when Bale was supposedly finished, injured and past it, he scored 11 Premier League goals from 20 games.
So, if he can do that when he is in that situation, imagine what he can do if he gets his engine finely tuned?
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