Real Madrid do not tolerate failure lightly, and there can be no doubt that heads will roll this summer after bitter rivals Barcelona sealed a La Liga title win on Sunday.
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Lionel Messi (who else?) scored the superb winning goal away to Atletico Madrid to wrap up the title victory, making it three seasons in a row without finishing as champions for Real. Clearly not good enough, considering the money spent on big-name players in that time.
Still, will Real learn from this and take the time to develop a team rather than simply buy their way out of trouble? Doubtful. Even bigger names at the Bernabeu have been shown the door in recent times, with the likes of Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria not surviving the chop in the incredibly hostile and expectant environment of the Spanish capital; with Bale becoming such a scapegoat this season for failing to do it in the big games, he is surely one of the first on the list to be sent on his way.
Chelsea and Manchester United have both been strongly linked with the Welshman, who would have to reach super-human levels to ever justify his world-record £85m price tag, with the club’s previous record signing Cristiano Ronaldo giving him an almost impossible job in that respect, having somehow managed to look a bargain at £80m with his amazing record of 310 goals in 299 appearances.
Bale will always be compared with Ronaldo and is seemingly struggling to even play alongside the Portuguese star. With Ronaldo doing his bit to try to keep the title alive yesterday with a hat-trick against Espanyol, there’s no chance he’s going to be the one to make way to accommodate the former Tottenham Hotspur man.
It is a tough environment for most players to succeed in, and Bale won’t be the last Galactico to prove something of a disappointment, but there can be no doubt now that the lack of trophies for Real this season will prove the catalyst for his departure, most likely back to the more familiar and comfortable Premier League.