Gareth Bale
Gareth Bale does not want to come back to the Premier League and is likely to finish his career at Real Madrid, his agent Jonathan Barnett has said.
The 30-year-old has been linked with a return to England with his relationship with Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane understood to be strained.
Bale almost moved to China last summer but the deal fell through.
“He has a very nice lifestyle. I don’t see why he doesn’t see his career out at Madrid probably,” Barnett said.
Welshman Bale has been linked with a Premier League return for years with former club Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, subject to their takeover being completed, among the latest clubs mentioned.
Since joining Madrid for a world record £85m fee in 2013, Bale has won four Champions Leagues, one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey, as well as three Club World Cups, three UEFA Super Cups and one Spanish Super Cup.
“As I’ve always said, he’s quite happy in Madrid,” Barnett told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“It’s his life that he wants to lead. Financially, he will want for nothing the rest of his life, and his children and grandchildren.
“He’s won nearly everything in the world, except the World Cup, but unfortunately he plays for Wales so some things are beyond him.
“So he’s won everything else, to come back and play [in the Premier League] would be unbelievable – a big thing.
“I don’t think he wants to do that at the moment. He’s quite happy to play at Real Madrid.”
Barnett also told the BBC he does not expect top players’ wages to fall because of coronavirus, although he does not anticipate any huge transfers this summer.
Asked if the days of huge transfers are over, he said, “I think in the short term, but not in the long term and they’ll come back. Market values will come back. You just got to look at it sensibly and say, ‘this year I can’t afford to pay so I won’t do it this year’.”