Month: July 2021

After reports emerged that Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale was a top target for several clubs across Europe, including in the Australian league, it looks as though he could be set to stay at Madrid for the coming season. The Wales international winger spent last season in the English Premier League on loan at Tottenham Hotspur where he made a great impression even though he was not allowed to play in as many games as he would have loved to under former Spurs manager José Mourinho. Bale’s time at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium was quite a mixed one and even after scoring a couple of goals for the London club, they decided against signing him permanently.

After the last season ended, reports popped up from various sources that the forward would be retiring from club football in order to place the entirety of his career focus on playing for the Wales national team. However, his agent mentioned that his client would be willing to see out his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu. Bale has one year left on his Real Madrid contract and since his agent claims that he will be seeing it out, there could be a longer future for him at the Spanish La Liga giants beyond the next year.

The return of Carlo Ancelotti, whom Bale has worked with before at Madrid, is a major mood booster for the winger and he could now be ready to rescind his decision and choose to stay longer than his last year instead. Ancelotti is also keen to see Bale stay at Madrid and has insisted that he will do everything to make sure that he keeps the winger within the team.

Bale will be looking forward to playing a huge role in helping Madrid work towards winning a couple of titles next season after the Los Blancos ended the last campaign without a single title.

Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has reportedly let his desire known that he is not willing to extend his stay at the club. The former Chelsea midfield star has long been linked with an exit from Old Trafford after falling down the pecking order under manager Olé Gunnar Solksjær and has been looking for another club he can join as long as he can be promised that he will have more playing time than he is currently getting with the Red Devils.

Matic is already nearing the final few months of his current contract and has not been offered a fresh deal by United as he continues to edge closer to an exit from the club. It was reported some days ago that former Manchester United and Chelsea manager José Mourinho was highly interested in signing the player for AS Roma after recently accepting the Italian club’s offer to be their new boss.

Mourinho is a huge fan of Matic after working with him both at Chelsea and Manchester United and he is said to be interested in conjuring a reunion between him and the midfielder. United are reportedly willing to listen to offers for the 33-year-old midfielder and would jump at almost any opportunity to sell him this summer as long as the potential suitors can pay up to what the Red Devils will demand.

United are looking for around a fee between £15 – £20 million for Matic and Mourinho is expected to ask Roma to pay up the amount. Before the end of the last season, it was reported that Matic was attracting interest from clubs abroad, including some from Australia. Wellington Phoenix and Western Sydney Wanderers were said to be interested in signing both him and teammate Mata but there has not been any official offer from neither of the clubs.