Gareth Bale vs Madrid

predator

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He is destroying his legacy if you ask me. He's the most successful British player in champions league history and was occasionally the best player in the world on his day and is still only 30.

If he fecked Madrid off and left with dignity, joined another club, even to earn a meagre 150k a week, and shown he is still hungry and capable then I'd have so much more respect for him.

In reality though he is sitting happy at madrid earning tons of money and seems to have no desire left in the tank.

Having said that he is injury prone.
 

giorno

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He's actually been really good so far. Showing renewed hunger and fight
 

Slevs

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That clip is hilarious. Make them pay, Gareth.
 

BalanceUnAutreJoint

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In the end Bale won't go down as a legend for Madrid and it has little to do with his attitude, he was only a starter in 2 of the 4 CLs he won there and you can question his performances for that 2016 one up until the very end of that campaign, his fitness record is atrocious and he's gone missing in most La Liga games pretty much every season bar 15/16.
 

yumtum

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He is destroying his legacy if you ask me. He's the most successful British player in champions league history and was occasionally the best player in the world on his day and is still only 30.

If he fecked Madrid off and left with dignity, joined another club, even to earn a meagre 150k a week, and shown he is still hungry and capable then I'd have so much more respect for him.

In reality though he is sitting happy at madrid earning tons of money and seems to have no desire left in the tank.

Having said that he is injury prone.
Would you pay over 69m for random people to respect you? No? Thought not, football fans need to get real, and he's started the season well, if anything staying and fighting for his place instead of running away when facing a little adversity should be applauded.
 

RMD83

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I really don’t think this flag incident is anything to do with bale resenting Madrid. Isn’t it the captains job to hold it and be front and centre? No wonder Madrid are in such a mess if they don’t have the leadership to get a team photo organised.
 

Red_toad

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Any football player who is living/playing that long in a foreign country and doesn't speak the language, is a total wanker. It's unbelievable.
He can speak Spanish, just not confidently. Why that makes someone a wanker is a tad unbelievable.
 

predator

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Would you pay over 69m for random people to respect you? No? Thought not, football fans need to get real, and he's started the season well, if anything staying and fighting for his place instead of running away when facing a little adversity should be applauded.
Dno
 

thepolice123

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He landed himself in this situation and rightfully so. He was given the chance to be the main man after Ronaldo left but got injured and outperformed by the younger Vicinus. There were also question marks about his commitment to football. Ronaldo might be a diva but you can't deny his commitment and passion to the game.
 

FootballHQ

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Any football player who is living/playing that long in a foreign country and doesn't speak the language, is a total wanker. It's unbelievable.
There's a difference between not speaking the language and not giving interviews otherwise some of the South American guys in premier league are as bad as Bale.

Rojo/Valencia/Tevez/Juan Sebastian Veron....only YT video I can find of any of them speaking good level of English is Tevez from his Man. City days and he could just about string 2-3 sentences together....he'd been in England for five years at that point.
 

Pagh Wraith

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Any football player who is living/playing that long in a foreign country and doesn't speak the language, is a total wanker. It's unbelievable.
So true. Particularly a Romance language which are rather easy to pick up for English speakers. If I moved somewhere right now, I'd set myself a three-month-window to become conversationally fluent in the local languages. Heck, there are videos on YouTube of people learning Italian/Spanish in seven days and they recorded themselves conversing with native speakers after that one week. To not speak it after six years is a little embarrassing and most of all disrespectful.

And regarding speaking vs giving interviews. In this recent clip it doesn't look as if he speaks much Spanish at all:

 
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red4ever 79

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He is destroying his legacy if you ask me. He's the most successful British player in champions league history and was occasionally the best player in the world on his day and is still only 30.

If he fecked Madrid off and left with dignity, joined another club, even to earn a meagre 150k a week, and shown he is still hungry and capable then I'd have so much more respect for him.

In reality though he is sitting happy at madrid earning tons of money and seems to have no desire left in the tank.

Having said that he is injury prone.
Destroying his legacy, The shite posted on here. Zidane will be fired by Christmas and most probably whoever comes in will want Bale. Done the right thing sticking around
 

PedroMendez

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He can speak Spanish, just not confidently. Why that makes someone a wanker is a tad unbelievable.
There's a difference between not speaking the language and not giving interviews otherwise some of the South American guys in premier league are as bad as Bale.

Rojo/Valencia/Tevez/Juan Sebastian Veron....only YT video I can find of any of them speaking good level of English is Tevez from his Man. City days and he could just about string 2-3 sentences together....he'd been in England for five years at that point.
its totally fine to not give interviews in Spanish. Nobody should be bothered by it. The question is, if he speaks Spanish well enough to communicate comfortably in his daily working environment. I don't know the answer to that question, but at least that is the gist of the media coverage about him. My statement doesn't apply to him, if thats not the case. There seems to be an issue with him not being properly integrated. Language might or might not be the reason for that.
He is also hardly the only player, who struggles with this. As far as I can tell, Kroos doesn't speak Spanish. Its still highly unprofessional and limiting.

Footballers have access to top language teachers and enough free time on their hand. Its one thing, if you are at a club for a season or two (two seasons is already mind-boggling for me, but I try to give them some leeway). There is no excuse if you stay for three seasons+ and it obviously applies to many players in the EPL as well.

Madrid is Madrid. They have demanding fans, a tough surrounding and a lot of idiots work for the club (like for most clubs...). They certainly can mistreat players. Yet the whole "bale, the victim" narrative is beyond ridiculous. He is an extremely generously paid athlete, who has control over his own career. He isn't some minor player who gets pushed around and spit out, like it happens all the time. The gap between performance and wage would create controversy, unrest and attention at most top clubs.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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:lol: and was our captain

But seriously now, I thought Valencia could speak English but he just wasn’t confident enough to do it publicly/during interviews etc
Pretty sure that was the case. I've definitely heard him speak English before, particularly on one of Rio's pre season diary things.
 
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FootballHQ

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its totally fine to not give interviews in Spanish. Nobody should be bothered by it. The question is, if he speaks Spanish well enough to communicate comfortably in his daily working environment. I don't know the answer to that question, but at least that is the gist of the media coverage about him. My statement doesn't apply to him, if thats not the case. There seems to be an issue with him not being properly integrated. Language might or might not be the reason for that.
He is also hardly the only player, who struggles with this. As far as I can tell, Kroos doesn't speak Spanish. Its still highly unprofessional and limiting.

Footballers have access to top language teachers and enough free time on their hand. Its one thing, if you are at a club for a season or two (two seasons is already mind-boggling for me, but I try to give them some leeway). There is no excuse if you stay for three seasons+ and it obviously applies to many players in the EPL as well.

Madrid is Madrid. They have demanding fans, a tough surrounding and a lot of idiots work for the club (like for most clubs...). They certainly can mistreat players. Yet the whole "bale, the victim" narrative is beyond ridiculous. He is an extremely generously paid athlete, who has control over his own career. He isn't some minor player who gets pushed around and spit out, like it happens all the time. The gap between performance and wage would create controversy, unrest and attention at most top clubs.

Well this is from August 2015 so over four years ago. Broken Spanish but can at least string some sentences together. You'd obviously assume he'd have picked far more up in that time.

Think bigger issue here is he keeps himself to himself off the pitch so that's where the other players don't really know him so it's assumed he dosen't speak Spanish. And he dosen't give interviews after the game so the wider public dosen't know him much either.
 

amolbhatia50k

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What's Bale done that's wrong exactly? Other than being an introvert and not speaking fluent Spanish?
 

Nogbadthebad

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In the end Bale won't go down as a legend for Madrid and it has little to do with his attitude, he was only a starter in 2 of the 4 CLs he won there and you can question his performances for that 2016 one up until the very end of that campaign, his fitness record is atrocious and he's gone missing in most La Liga games pretty much every season bar 15/16.
There are only 21 players who have scored more than 100 goals for Madrid in its entire history.

Bale is one of them.

'Not a legend'
 

PedroMendez

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Well this is from August 2015 so over four years ago. Broken Spanish but can at least string some sentences together. You'd obviously assume he'd have picked far more up in that time.

Think bigger issue here is he keeps himself to himself off the pitch so that's where the other players don't really know him so it's assumed he dosen't speak Spanish. And he dosen't give interviews after the game so the wider public dosen't know him much either.

I am not sure what to say about this interview. If he understood the reporter properly on his own he should be good. I have doubts about that, but we'll never know. His phrasing is solid but very basic with fairly limited vocabulary.

the biggest issue is, that he came as superstar (fee, wage and reputation) and never quite lived up to that. He is not the player Madrid can/should build their team around. He wasn't even always a nailed on starter. For all the talk about him being treated unfairly, without the very strong and continuous support of Perez, he would have played less and wouldn't be at the club any more. When you have the "superstar package", you'll be judged based on that. Nothing wrong with it. It would be silly to have the same expectations for Bale and Lucas Vazquez.
 

carvajal

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Actually, the issue is not exactly speaking or not speaking Spanish.
It is the feeling of being involved and understanding your role.
Beckham didn't speak a word but his attitude was totally different.
It is said that Bale has not attended a single dinner of the team since he has arrived.
It is simply an example that he has not assumed the role of leader, media star,fan idol that we expected him to be.
He has never been mistreated by the club.
he even had an untouchable place in the line-up for years and Florentino decided to not sell him after Kiev final (against Zidane's opinion).
@PedroMendez Kroos already speaks spanish,quite well.
 

PedroMendez

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Actually, the issue is not exactly speaking or not speaking Spanish.
It is the feeling of being involved and understanding your role.
Beckham didn't speak a word but his attitude was totally different.
It is said that Bale has not attended a single dinner of the team since he has arrived.
It is simply an example that he has not assumed the role of leader, media star,fan idol that we expected him to be.
He has never been mistreated by the club.
he even had an untouchable place in the line-up for years and Florentino decided to not sell him after Kiev final (against Zidane's opinion).
@PedroMendez Kroos already speaks spanish,quite well.
Good for Kroos. I didnt know that.

You expressed my thoughts much better than I did.
 

John Blund

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He was probably their best player the few minutes he played. If Zidane saw the same as the rest of the world - he'd be starting Bale against PSG. Unless he's afraid of getting him injured.
I know he's not the youngest and he's injury-prone, but I'd take him in a heartbeat to United. The trade Harry (Bale - Eriksen) proposed sounds too good to be true for all parties. Except I don't see them breaking their wage structure for Bale.

We got Pogba, Zidane wants Pogba. Send us £150M and Bale, and we'll have a deal.
 

el3mel

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He was probably their best player the few minutes he played. If Zidane saw the same as the rest of the world - he'd be starting Bale against PSG. Unless he's afraid of getting him injured.
I know he's not the youngest and he's injury-prone, but I'd take him in a heartbeat to United. The trade Harry (Bale - Eriksen) proposed sounds too good to be true for all parties. Except I don't see them breaking their wage structure for Bale.

We got Pogba, Zidane wants Pogba. Send us £150M and Bale, and we'll have a deal.
No way they are going to pay that huge sum of money plus a player for Pogba. They aren't stupid. If we try to include a player in the deal, the money will be far less. I think that what would happen eventually but it won't be Bale, as I think he will stay at the end, but we will swap Pogba for one of their players as they aren't going to pay 120-150m for him.
 

John Blund

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They thought about sending him for free to China this summer, so it's not unlikely that they would look at any transfer with Bale as a trade is a good transfer for Real. We've not mentioned Bale after Ole came in. He was a Moyes project. I can see Real offering us £100M and Bale, but if Pogba wants to stay after this season, I'm not sure we'd accept it. Bale is over 30, had a lot of injuries, not wanted by the manager, booed at by his own fans. I'm pretty sure Real Madrid won't be slapping a hefty tag on him.
 

Sky1981

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I think he’s wasted the last couple years and if he wants to carry on like this he’s going to waste the rest of his career wasting away at RM. Sure he will make a shit ton of money doing nothing but the very best players are supposed to be winning trophies and making history not sitting around.
He'd still make more money and win more trophies going to madrid then many other destinations.
 

Sayros

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He's forcing a move at this point, there is no return from this situation so he may be a (relative) bargain on the transfer fee, but the wages he'd ask for along with his suspect health makes it a very risky buy. If he was willing to take a shorter contract with an option for a third or fourth year, then it'd be a bit more interesting but the way I see it, he will look for one last big, long payday wherever he does go, I'm just not sure how many clubs would be willing to take that risk.
 

van der star

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Starts laughing when Zidane makes his final sub, and has enough time to take a nap too! I wish someone paid me 350k or whatever he's on for sitting on a bench for 90 minutes every few days.

 

Castia

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Starts laughing when Zidane makes his final sub, and has enough time to take a nap too! I wish someone paid me 350k or whatever he's on for sitting on a bench for 90 minutes every few days.

Absolute disgrace that isn’t it.

Theyve tried moving him on multiple times but won’t leave (to be fair he’s on a massive contract) . Seems to be fine spending the rest of his career on the bench and pocketing the cash. He was 28 and easily one of the best players in the world but he gave up giving a feck I think.
 

RC89

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Starts laughing when Zidane makes his final sub, and has enough time to take a nap too! I wish someone paid me 350k or whatever he's on for sitting on a bench for 90 minutes every few days.

Fair play to him. He's been crucial to Madrid's CL success and he's been hounded by the media, boo'd by fans and mistreated by Zidane. Since then it's been a vicious cycle where his attitude hasn't been great and that then would make him even more hated amongst Zidane and fans but from what I remember there were no real issues of him being uncommitted until he got hounded by the press and Zidane publicly shamed him in interview (s?).
 
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Absolute disgrace that isn’t it.

Theyve tried moving him on multiple times but won’t leave (to be fair he’s on a massive contract) . Seems to be fine spending the rest of his career on the bench and pocketing the cash. He was 28 and easily one of the best players in the world but he gave up giving a feck I think.
If the stories are to be believed, then Madrid agreed to release him on a free to China, and then demanded a fee for him which scuppered the deal - and Bale had agreed terms.

It’s not just Bale who is at fault. They deserve each other mind.
 

Adisa

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Pretty sad tbh. He might be laughing but it has to be difficult for him.
 

adexkola

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Absolute disgrace that isn’t it.

Theyve tried moving him on multiple times but won’t leave (to be fair he’s on a massive contract) . Seems to be fine spending the rest of his career on the bench and pocketing the cash. He was 28 and easily one of the best players in the world but he gave up giving a feck I think.
As long as he's showing up to training and he is fulfilling his media obligations he's obligated to sit down and cash those checks if Zidane doesn't want to use him in games.