Manchester United Set To Miss Out On Real Madrid Target Following Ronaldo Departure

Even after three consecutive Champions League triumphs, Real Madrid aren’t looking to let their grip of European dominance become loose lightly.

The €100million acquired from the sale of their all-time top goalscorer, the talismanic Cristiano Ronaldo, will no doubt be put to further use in the near-future recruiting the best and brightest in world football. As reported yesterday by The Sportsman, Madrid have a few Premier League stars in their scopes.

For the time being, however, Los Blancos seem interested in retaining the magisterial assets already at their disposal.

Gareth Bale has long been linked with a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu, his comments immediately proceeding his heroics in the Champions League final when the Welshman scored a specular overhead volley and then capitalised on Liverpool having Loris Karius’ in net to procure Real Madrid’s incredible 13th European trophy exacerbating the rumours.

Bale, visually disgruntled that he hadn’t been offered a starting berth in the team to play at the Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, would vent his frustration to the TV cameras and BT presenter Des Kelly:

"Obviously, very disappointed not to start the game," said Bale. "I felt like I deserved to start but obviously the manager makes those decisions and what can you do.

"The best I could do was to come on and make an impact and that's what I did.”

When asked about his spectacular effort, Bale reiterated his displeasure.

"As I said, when I came on I want to make an impact," continued Bale. "It's a team game and, as I say, I was very disappointed not to start."

Those comments set newspaper headlines ablaze and Manchester United ears pricking. The hierarchy at Old Trafford have been continuously linked with making a move for the former Spurs star and bringing him back to the Premier League. 

Bale is currently contracted in the Spanish capital until 2022, and will know, at the age of 29, this may be his last chance to make a big money move to a club of equal stature. 

Madrid will be able to command an astronomical fee in the current transfer climate, but this is likely to do little to deter Manchester United, who obtained the similarly-aged Alexis Sanchez’s services in the January transfer window, as well as notably bringing in Robin Van Persie in Sir Alex Ferguson’s last, title-winning, season for what was widely regarded as an exceptionally high fee at the time in 2012.

With Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus however, combined with Julen Lopetegui replacing Zinedine Zidane at the helm, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is said to be determined to make sure Bale becomes their Merengues representative for the foreseeable future.

Bale struggled for appearances under Zidane, through a combination of injury and managerial neglect, and has managed twenty league appearances fewer in five seasons than the same amount of years when breaking through at Tottenham.

The number 7 however is now vacant. It’ll be interesting if it’ll be worn on the back of Bale in 2018/19.

Utd manager Jose Mourinho has already brought in Diogo Dalot from Porto, goalkeeper Lee Grant from Stoke, and Fred for £53million from Shakhtar Donetsk as he looks to capitalise on the second-place position achieved in the most recent Premier League season. Mourinho memorably left Madrid the summer when Bale was brought over from England.

Manchester United and Real Madrid meet at the International Champions Cup on August 1st, before either respective domestic campaigns begin. Whether it will be in the white of Los Merengues, the red of Manchester, prove to be an audition, or a ‘look-what-you-could-have-won’, puts a tantalising spin on a rather vanilla fixture.