"Bale wants to stay but Mr. Zidane doesn't want that"

Gareth Bale heads the list of potential departures this summer as Zinedine Zidane starts to tailor the Real Madrid squad to his personal liking. The manager does not want Bale as part of his new project and his decisions since taking over for the second time at the club indicate that this is the case.

He didn't call him for the last game against Villarreal after the utter aberration against Rayo Vallecano, with Zidane publicly refusing to back his players after the snafu. Asked after that game if Bale had his head on the game, Zidane's reponse was curt: "I don't know, you'd have to ask him that."

Zidane doesn't think Bale is one of the best says Barnett

Jonathan Barnett, who has never once backed down when it comes to defending his client and insisting he would be staying at Real Madrid, admitted for the first time that his future is unclear with Zidane at the helm. "He wants to stay," Barnett told Sky Sports. "I am not sure that Mr Zidane wants him to stay but at the moment Gareth wants to stay."

"He has got a contract, he will quite happily see it out until 2022. He has been and is, in my opinion, one of the top three or four players in the world. This game is a game of opinions and Mr Zidane doesn't think that. That is his opinion, he is entitled to it, I won't criticise him."

Real Madrid want to cash in on Bale but no offers have arrived for him. He earns €15 million net and his agent recently told the British press that he wants €19 million a year to return to the Premier League. Barnett again referred to this when asked by Sky about a return to England. "It certainly is possible, if somebody puts their hand in their pocket and pays us what we think he deserves," was his response. "It is going to be a lot of money!"