Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed Gareth Bale will leave the club at the end of the season when his contract expires.
Bale will leave Madrid with a full list of accolades to his name, despite an extremely disappointing end to his time with Los Blancos which was plagued by injuries and persistent reports of a lack of mutual respect between both the player and the club.
As quoted by Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano on his twitter page, Ancelotti said: “Bale has had injuries, then his contract ends – he may not have had a good motivation but he wants to finish here as he deserves.”
The Welsh international joined Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 for a then world record fee of £86m, eclipsing the previous record fee of £80m for superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
The right-winger started off his career as the right hand side in a front three containing Ronaldo and Karim Benzema which competed directly against Barcelona’s MSN combo, two of the greatest attacking trio’s to ever be seen according to some.
The 32-year-old scored a stunning overhead kick in the 2017/18 Champions League final to win the club an unprecedented third trophy in as many years. He also scored the second goal in 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid in 13/14 season.
Asides from the four Champions League’s, Bale has also won two La Liga titles, three UEFA Super Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, four Club World Cups and one Copa Del Rey title.
However, this season, he has played just four times, scoring once in La Liga in a 3-3 draw with Levante.
He has has a career at Madrid most footballers could only dream about, and while he has been disenfranchised with the club for a number of years now, he can look back on his earlier days with the Spaniards with fondness.
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