Gareth Bale: Is there any way back for Wales star at Real Madrid?

It has been a year of turmoil for Gareth Bale, voted Real Madrid's worst player of the 2019/20 season by the club's own supporters

The Welshman featured in only 16 La Liga games during the 2019/20 season

"I need to be playing week in, week out, and that's not happened this season. I had an injury five, six weeks into the season but I've been fit ever since. I have to sit down with my agent in the summer and discuss it."

When Gareth Bale scored twice in the Champions League final against Liverpool two years ago, he used his moment in the spotlight to express his frustration, after months of being left out of the team.

Zinedine Zidane departed days later, but Julen Lopetegui's ill-fated five-month spell and subsequent sacking was blamed on Bale by Madrid legend Jorge Valdano. To compound matters, Real turned to their former manager to avert a growing crisis in March 2019, and their relationship has been as expected.

"Their relationship is broken," Spanish football expert Alvaro Montero tells Sky Sports. "They don't even talk and they don't have a good relationship. It's purely professional. It's not like the relationship he has with Sergio Ramos, Casemiro or with Luka Modric.

"Bale has no relationship with Zidane. They respect each other as professionals, but there's no relationship.

"He's the most expensive player in Madrid's history, but Zidane has counted on Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio has come back into the fold after nine months out injured, Eden Hazard will get better while even Rodrygo, Vinicius and sometimes Lucas Vazquez are ahead of him.

"Bale was a superstar four or five years ago, and when Cristiano Ronaldo left for Juventus, he was counted on to be the one who would replace his goals, but now he's perhaps the sixth option.

"It's impossible for him to resurrect his career at the club. He'll be on the bench again next season and may play even less. It's impossible for him to recover."

Despite winning four Champions League titles with Real, Bale divides opinion.

There has been a perceived lack of commitment in the Spanish media with Marca describing him in one recent article as acting like a "clown" in the stands during the final few games of the season.

As Real won 10 straight games since the restart to win a first La Liga title in three years, Bale played just 99 minutes - and this had little to do with the poor injury record that has plagued him in recent seasons.

It is a year this week that Bale's move to China was called off after Real Madrid cancelled the deal. He was set to earn a reported £1m a week at Jiangsu Suning - and Zidane had made it known that he wanted the Welshman off his books during a pre-season tour in Washington.

"We hope he leaves soon," the Madrid boss said. "It would be best for everyone. We are working on his transfer to a new team. I have nothing personal against him, but there comes a time where things are done because they must be done." บอลวันนี้ทุกลีก