Bale agent appears to put brakes on Man Utd, Liverpool talk

Gareth Bale’s recent first-team struggles at Real Madrid have not affected plans for his future, according to his agent Jonathan Barnett.

The Wales star has scored 11 goals in 21 La Liga starts in what has been an injury-hit campaign, but he has started only two Champions League matches and was dumped to the bench for both games against PSG and the quarter-final 1st-leg win against Juventus.

Having played a pivotal role in his first few seasons with the Spanish giants, Bale now looks like he is being asked to play second fiddle to the likes of Isco and Marco Asensio in some of the club’s bigger games.

He did return to the starting line-up for the derby clash with Atletico at the weekend and set up Cristiano Ronaldo’s strike, but that has not stopped talk of a return to the Premier League – as Manchester United and Liverpool continue to be linked with the 28-year-old.

However, Barnett claims that the player and club remain firmly committed to each other.

“Gareth is a Real Madrid player and loves Real Madrid and Real Madrid love Gareth,” Barnett told ESPN FC. “All this talk about leaving is written by reporters who have no idea what is going on and who need to write something and don’t care if it is true or not.”

That critics remain out in force for Bale, however, with former Madrid player, coach and sporting director Jorge Valdano telling Spanish radio show “El Transistor” after the draw with Atletico: “[Bale’s] movement was good, he gave the assist to Cristiano,”

“He gave me the feeling he wanted to take part in the play, show what he could do, for the entire 90 minutes. The problem is that nothing that Bale does is worth €100 million, and that is the figure he wears on his jersey.”