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Agent: 'Gareth Bale wants to end career at Real Madrid'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 14 March 2019

Agent: 'Bale wants to end career at Madrid'

Agent Jonathan Barnett insists that Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale is not seeking a return to the Premier League as he intends to finish his career at the Bernabeu.

Gareth Bale's agent Jonathan Barnett has revealed that the forward "wants to play all his career for Real Madrid", amid recent links with a return to the Premier League.

The Wales international's future at the Bernabeu has again come into focus following this week's arrival of Zinedine Zidane.

Bale fell out of favour under the Frenchman in the second half of last season and admitted after his Champions League final heroics that he would possibly look to move on that summer.

Zidane's departure changed all that, but his subsequent reappointment on Monday - after the failed experiments of Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari - has led to talk that Manchester United and former club Tottenham Hotspur are about to make an approach for Bale.

However, the 29-year-old's main desire is to stay in the Spanish capital, even if he has been the target of boos in recent weeks.

Asked if his client will stay at Real this summer, Barnett told BBC Sport: "Yes, why not? He wants to play all his career for Real Madrid and if it does not work out, we will talk again. He will talk with Mr Zidane, take it from there and then see at the end of the season.

"Gareth wanted to play one way and Zidane wanted to play another. That was the cause of it and over a period of time it got worse. If you let Gareth play the way he wants to play, having a run of games in a row not in and out, he can be right up there with Cristiano Ronaldo.

"He still has a great talent. Gareth is very strong. He is a very strong-willed person and does not care what the press say. The jeering is not something that bothers him, he does not understand what he has to do.

"Look at his record, what he has won and how he has played. In years to come, these people who are booing him, their children will be looking at the goals he scored and will be saying, 'what a wonderful player'."

Bale has scored 101 goals for Real Madrid since making a then-record £85m move from Tottenham in 2013.