Manchester United Transfer News: Gareth Bale Hopes Raised by Eden Hazard Rumours

Real Madrid’s reported interest in Chelsea winger Eden Hazard could pave the way for their current No. 11 Gareth Bale to move to Manchester United, according to reports.

Duncan Castles of the Sunday Times wrote that Los Blancos are keen on making a stellar acquisition next summer and have isolated the Belgian ace as a perfect option. Florentino Perez, the Real Madrid president, is reportedly willing to part with a massive amount to get Hazard on board.

Castles outlined what that would potentially mean for Bale:

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Perez has twice sanctioned world-record transfer fees in bringing Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale from England to La Liga and will not baulk at spending heavily to secure Hazard. Should he elect to take it, he also has the option of selling Ronaldo to Paris Saint-Germain for as much as £110m or Bale to Manchester United for a similar fee.

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For United, it’d be a marquee capture. The club have long been linked with a move for the Welshman, with reports suggesting they made a last ditch attempt to get Bale in the summer of 2013 before he eventually opted to join Real, per El Larguero (h/t ESPN FC).

The former Tottenham man is currently suffering from an injury problem. However, as we can see here courtesy of WhoScored.com, prior to picking up the knock, Bale was one of the outstanding players anywhere in European football:

It makes reports suggest Real would be willing to sell Bale peculiar. After all, he’s a player that’s clearly going to play a key role under the tutelage of Rafael Benitez, with the manager starting the forward in a central position for the majority of matches so far. Bale, as aforementioned, has been thriving there.

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A move to Manchester United could be appealing for Bale. The Red Devils are the biggest club in British football after all and if he was to make the transfer, the 26-year-old would become the key player in Louis van Gaal’s improving team. At Real Madrid, he is occasionally harshly criticised by the club’s supporters too, which a player of his undeniable calibre could certainly do without.

As noted by The Futbol Joker, Bale is a player that’s held to a different standard to others at the Santiago Bernabeu, it would seem:

Bringing in Hazard to ship Bale off would be a strange decision on the part of Perez. Of course, Real are a club renowned for acquiring the world’s very best young players and the Chelsea man would certainly fit into that category. But at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be that much between the pair.

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Here’s a look at how each has fared so far in league matches this season in direct statistical comparison:

	Bale	Hazard
Apps	3	7
Goals	2	0
Assists	3	2
Shots per game	2.3	1.6
Key passes per game	2.7	3.7
Dribbles per game	2	3.7
Passing accuracy	83.1%	88%

Bale has the talent to grow into a major force at the Santiago Bernabeu and in the early weeks of Benitez’s tenure, there are signs he is beginning to take games by the scruff of the neck. If he continues to do so, those detractors in attendance at the matches will gradually diminish as Bale’s influence inflates.

United are a club who have the money to test Real’s resolve and if they were to bring in a player such as Hazard, it’d be intriguing to see how the squad dynamic would be shifted. But a lot of big money will need to change hands in order for these transfers to take place, meaning the prospect of seeing Bale in United colours next season remains a fanciful one.