"Eriksen must ask himself if he's ready for the demands at Real Madrid - even Hazard has struggled" - Berbatov
Dimitar Berbatov also spoke about Gareth Bale. "He'll leave when he thinks the time's right" and says he would be perfect for Manchester United.
Former Tottenham and Manchester United player Dimitar Berbatov gave his thoughts on the rumours surrounding Gareth Bale's future and feels that the Real Madrid player would be a perfect fit at Manchester United. "Apparently Bale wants to leave Real Madrid again... It appears to be a soap opera that's going to go on and on for a long time. What chapter are we on now? Yes I want to leave, no I want to stay, Yes I want you, no I don't…", the Bulgarian, who is now an ambassador for Betfair, began.
"The normal thing is that at some point Bale is going to leave and I have to be honest, I would love it if he returned to England, to Manchester United or Spurs, if they allow that to happen", continued Berbatov, referencing his two former clubs. "It's not always good to go back to the place you were before because you're not always going to play as well as you did before. United could benefit from his pace and his experience of the Premier League. I think he would be a magnificent signing… if it happens”.
Eriksen can't presume he'll enter the Madrid XI right away
Bale knows full well how demanding Real Madrid can be and how difficult it is to hold down a regular place in the team - Christian Eriksen, who has been linked to a winter move to the Bernabéu should expect the same if he ends up joining Los Blancos, warns Berbatov.
"Real Madrid have a brilliant team and Eriksen needs to know that going there would represent a massive challenge. They've got Kroos, Modric, Isco, Hazard… all of them are tried-and-tested players, world class midfielders", he explained. “And yes, it's true that some of them have been there for a while and are starting to get old but they still have a very strong side. So Eriksenwill need to ask himself if he's ready to fight for his place because you can't just go to Madrid and expect to play straight away. Even Hazard has had difficulties at the start with Real Madrid. Any player can go through the same there. Sometimes you need to leave your comfort zone and if that's where Eriksen is at right now, he won't need to push himself to achieve anything, if that's the case then that's a problem”.