The transition from Zinedine Zidane to Julen Lopetegui at Real Madrid invited all sorts of speculation about the club future of Gareth Bale, and if that future will continue at the Santiago Bernabeu. Given some of Lopetegui’s past comments, one can naturally infer that Bale could be moving on this summer, with Manchester United the most logical landing spot as the Welshman is a long time, well publicized transfer target.
The transfer gossip today seems to indicate that United will only be disappointed by this endeavor yet again.
According to the sources claimed by ESPN, Gareth Bale is looking to stay in Madrid and prove himself under Lopetegui.
Obviously this is a very fluid situation, as all transfer gossip is, but as of Friday, Bale prefers to stay with Los Blancos and fight for a long sought after consistent place in the first team. Bale has also been linked with a return to Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
For Lopetegui and Real Madrid, the transition begins a whole sooner than expected. The former Spain national team boss was named Real manager on Tuesday, with the intent of assuming the position once the World Cup was over. He was then sacked as Spain boss the next day, because the La Roja leadership didn’t care for the decorum of the deal. (It’s a long and head-scratching story)
For Lopetegui, who was unveiled yesterday to the press as new manager of the three peat European champions, he can begin his roster assessment, and thus Gareth Bale evaluation, much sooner than expected.
For Spain, they will begin their World Cup campaign, interim manager in charge, with the Iberian peninsula derby against Portugal in a couple of hours.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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