Gareth Bale could end up sitting on the bench for the next few months after his move to China broke down, according to ESPN's Madrid correspondent.
Speaking to Off The Ball Dermot Corrigan said that Bale is in a tricky situation as Zidane has stated he doesn't want him at Madrid.
“It’s really a pickle for everybody involved, the Chinese club recently signed a Croatian player so their register of foreign players is full up now."
“He’s [Bale] left with very few options and he could quite possibly be stuck sitting on the bench for the next couple of months," he said.
While sticking around isn't ideal for Bale he might have to stay put until there is a change at the club.
“Zidane’s position at the club is not nearly as strong as it was even a couple of months ago."
"Things move so fast at Madrid that Bale and maybe James Rodriguez might be thinking they could hang around a bit longer and things might change on the managerial front," according to Corrigan.
Bale's move to Jiangsu Suning FC broke down after Real Madrid decided to block the deal.
“He could well have gone only that Madrid decided at the last minute that if the Chinese club were willing to pay so much money for Bale's salary, they wanted a piece of it for themselves."
“They weren’t willing to let him go on a free transfer to China even though they had agreed on it before, and so the deal was off," Corrigan said.
While Bale has won four Champions League titles, a La Liga title and the Copa Del Ray at Madrid, injuries have prevented him from being a consistent starter for the team.
Corrigan thinks that over the past few years Bale has fallen out of love with the game.
"At Madrid, he doesn't have that same joy for the game, the spark is gone. You can see maybe when he joins up with Wales he is a bit more outgoing and he gets on better with the guys there," he said.
Bale recently pulled out of the Real Madrid squad for their pre-season trip to Munich. The reasoning behind his departure was because he's not in the right frame of mind at the moment.
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