Tottenham star Gareth Bale 'not happy' at how return has panned out, says ex-Real Madrid president

Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has said that Gareth Bale is ‘not happy’ at how his return to Tottenham has panned out and doubts that Los Blancos would be able to afford Harry Kane. 

This week Bale said he was expecting to return to Madrid once his one-year loan spell came to an end, with another year left on his contract in the Spanish capital.

The Welshman appeared to be returning to something approaching his best form with Spurs having scored six goals in six games between February and March, but Jose Mourinho dropped him for their 2-0 win against Aston Villa after reportedly being unimpressed by his work-rate.  

‘He’s not happy about his time at Tottenham and Mourinho doesn’t seem to be very happy either,’ Calderon told talkSPORT. 

‘He’s not counting on him in many matches and Bale is disappointed and maybe that’s the reason he would like to return.’ 

Bale has played just 12 Premier League matches this season and was benched for the trip to Aston Villa after coming on in the 60th minute of Spurs’ humiliating Europa League last-16 exit to Dinamo Zagreb.

Mourinho’s side were dumped out in extra time by Mislav Orsic’s hat-trick, despite going into the away leg 2-0 up, and the Portuguese manager is said to have been particularly concerned by Bale’s lack of defensive effort.

The winger admitted that it was ‘nice to get away’ on international duty with Wales when things weren’t going to plan at club level.

‘The main reason I came to Spurs this year was that I wanted to play football first and foremost, but going into Euro 2020 I wanted to be match fit,’ he said.

‘The original plan was only to do a season at Spurs and then after the Euros I still have a year left at Real Madrid. My plan is obviously to go back and that’s as far as I’ve planned.

‘I always think when things aren’t going too well at your club it’s nice to get away. Especially mentally, it can definitely be a benefit to get away from the club environment.

‘The thing we have to do now is focus on these couple games for Wales which are very important for us. We forget club life and concentrate on this.’

Bale’s tumultuous relationship with Madrid’s fans is well-documented, with the Welshman having been booed on a number of occasions at the Santiago Bernabeu. 

Calderon said he would need to work hard to win supporters back if he were to return to Zinedine Zidane’s side.

‘Fans are very volatile, it depends on his performances,’ he said in the interview with talkSPORT. 

‘If he’s going to play well and score goals like he did when he came then fans will back him.

‘But if he’s not then problems will come again. This club is very demanding, I remember with Zidane they were booing him for the first five months because they thought we’ve paid a lot of money for a player that wasn’t playing as they expected.

‘I’m sure fans will be backing him if he does things well.’

Reports in Spain suggested that Madrid had identified Spurs striker Kane as their primary transfer target for this summer’s window as a viable alternative to the highly-coveted Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. 

Los Blancos were said to be more confident of striking a deal with Kane’s brother and intermediary, Charlie, than with either of Mbappe and Haaland’s representatives.

But Calderon expressed his doubts about the England star’s signing given the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Real and the costly ongoing renovation of the Santiago Bernabeu. 

‘They are always rumours at this time of the season. They are talking about Mbappe, Haaland… too many players,’ he added.

‘We are not in the best form economically-speaking because we are refurbishing our stadium, spending a lot of money.

‘It will be difficult to spend money in the summer. We always try to sign good players, we’ve been doing that for years.’