How Much Longer Does Gareth Bale Have at Real Madrid?

It has been a difficult few months for Gareth Bale at Real Madrid. His attacking output has decreased significantly since the turn of the year, while he has concurrently been on the end of escalating criticism from press and supporters alike.

Indeed, the attack on his car which followed Madrid’s Clasico defeat to Barcelona last weekend, as reported by Cuatro (h/t AS), has led some to question whether he will seek a move away from La Liga at the end of the season.

That does, however, seem an unlikely scenario at this stage of his career at the Bernabeu.

Indeed, Bale himself was quick to shoot down rumours of a move back to England with Manchester United at the back end of the last year.

"I am very happy in Madrid, a city, a climate and a club that I love," he told Dubai TV (h/t the Guardian). "I hope to win many more titles in the future."

It would, of course, be natural for his enthusiasm to have waned somewhat over the last couple of months. The local press has been quick to make him the scapegoat for a Madrid side who have suffered a downturn in performance levels in 2015.

Numerous editorials have questioned his work rate and team ethic, using words such as lazy and selfish in their descriptions of him.

Enrique Ortego of Marca penned an 11-point breakdown of Bale’s failures earlier this month, while, as per Madrid-based journalist Nicholas Rigg, AS were less than impressed by his performance in the defeat to Barcelona.

And that criticism appears to reflect the opinion of regular Madrid supporters.

Bale has been chastised by those inside the Bernabeu on a few occasions this season. Per the Guardian, he was whistled after failing to square the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo for a tap-in against Espanyol in January. The announcement of Bale as the scorer of the second goal in the recent win over Levante, after he got the slightest of touches to a Ronaldo shot, was also met by a negative reaction.

And 68.3 percent of supporters polled by AS in the wake of El Clasico indicated that they would like to see the Welshman dropped from the starting XI going forward.

It is clearly a difficult environment for Bale to work in, but the feeling persists that it is not yet an untenable one. Bleacher Report columnist Guillem Balague is among those who believes that the 25-year-old still has a future in Madrid.

And, as per Simon Jones of the Daily Mail, Bale has privately reasserted his commitment to the club in face of renewed enquiries from United and fellow Premier League side Chelsea.

"Bale is determined to stay, win over the fans and convince the world he can become one of Real Madrid’s greats," Jones wrote on Wednesday.

That is a view supported by a recent article in Marca (h/t ESPN FC) by Jose Felix Diaz. In it, he wrote that Florentino Perez and others in the Madrid boardroom consider Bale as a viable long-term replacement for Ronaldo. However, the contract of the 30-year-old doesn’t expire until 2018. Diaz reports that he will only be moved on as and when he makes the first move.

It could therefore end up being a waiting game for Bale, with his own future contingent on that of Ronaldo.

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It is difficult for him to make the mark he wants to with the restrictions placed on his game as a result of the luxuries afforded to the Portuguese forward. Someone has to do some of the donkey work in Madrid’s all-star forward line, and that responsibility seems to have fallen squarely on Bale’s shoulders.

How long he is prepared to wait to be given a freer and more prominent role is open to speculation. It is obviously easier to be patient if those above have guaranteed him those privileges in the future.

If Ronaldo shows no sign of leaving the Bernabeu come the end of the next season, then that may be the time at which Bale begins to assess his options. It is, however, difficult to see him departing Madrid and returning to England sooner than that.