Barnett on Bale: "If they want to put him on the bench that’s fine"
Gareth Bale's agent spoke about his client's future and suggested he woud be more than happy to sit on the bench if he returns to Real Madrid.
Gareth Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett has suggested that if his client is to return to the Bernabéu to be placed under the orders of Zinedine Zidane again this summer, it will be to expensively sit on the bench. Bale moved to Tottenham on loan last season but has expressed his desire to return to Madrid to see out the final year of his contract while Spurs have yet to make any decision on whether or not to try and retain the Wales forward for another year.
“I very much doubt Bale has a future at Real Madrid, but if they want to put him on the bench that’s fine. If they want to put me on the bench with that salary? That’s fine for me as well,” Barnett said during an interview with SNTV.
Barnett also addressed the possibility of Bale remaining at Tottenham beyond his current loan deal. “It’s a discussion between three parties: us, Real Madrid and Tottenham. We have our point of view and we’ll let them know what it is at the right time,” Barnett said.
Barnett on Bale and Mourinho
Bale returned to Spurs after falling out of favour with Zidane and joined up in London with José Mourinho, who had previously attempted to lure the Welshman to Old Trafford when he was in charge of Manchester United. However, Bale was not handed the starring role many predicted and Mourinho seemed reluctant to play the forward during the early part of the 2020-21 campaign, with Barnett stating that his client had a “rough time” under the Portuguese.
“I said to Spurs at the start: ‘If you give him a run, put your trust in him, let him play his own game, not tell him he’s got to do this or that, treat him like a Messi or a Ronaldo, it’s been proven time and again that if you let him play like that, he will score a lot of goals.’ He’s world class. That was the big error, but I’m not going to blame anyone,” Barnett said. “[Mourinho] is a very successful coach, but Julius Caesar was also pretty good and I don’t think he’d be very successful directing armies now.”