Gareth Bale could be frozen out of the Real Madrid squad and sent to train with the Under 23s should he fail to find a new club this summer.
The Welshman has fallen out of favour at the Bernabeu and has been linked with a move away from the Spanish capital this season.
Bale has been linked with a big-money move to Manchester United but the 29-year-old will be frozen out should that deal – or any other for that matter – fail to materialise, according to reports in England.
Real chiefs are also angry that Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett insisted that his client was keen to ‘see out’ the rest of his current contract at the club.
‘I’m not sure Mr Zidane wants him to stay but, at the moment, Gareth wants to stay,’ Barnett said. ‘He’ll happily see out his contract until 2022.’
Bale was omitted from the squad that beat Villarreal on Sunday with Zinedine Zidane keen to offload the winger.
The 29-year-old was called into coach Zidane’s office at the club’s Valdebebas training ground last week for a one-to-one meeting.
According to reports in the UK, the exchange was brief and frosty with Bale hearing nothing he did not already know – that relations with Zidane have not improved since the last time the French coach was at the club.
He communicated to his manager that he wants to stay to fight for his place next season and the stalemate is now likely to carry on into the summer as Madrid try to bring in Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic.
Real bosses are also keen to free up his £500,000-a-week wages should he leave the club.
