Ramon Calderon: 'Impossible' for Gareth Bale to Stay at Real Madrid

Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon believes it is "impossible" for Gareth Bale to remain at the club next season because of his poor relationship with the fans and manager Zinedine Zidane.

Bale was left on the bench as Real's disastrous 2018-19 season finished with a 2-0 home defeat to Real Betis on Sunday, a match widely expected to be his last at the club:

Calderon also noted it could be difficult to find a buyer given Bale's salary, per BBC Sport:

"It seems it was his last game for Real Madrid. Zidane, last year when he left, he thought it was imperative to keep [Cristiano] Ronaldo and to sell Bale, and they decided not to do that.

"It seems it is impossible for him to be here ... because of the coach and the relationship with the fans. They think he is not committed, and that is a problem. The best thing for him is to move. He should take the opportunity if there is one.

"Maybe he will go on loan. It is a problem when the coach and player do not get along. You have to look at every option to find a solution.

"The problem is the salary; it is a high salary. He has not been lucky at Madrid since the beginning. Fans thought for the money he would be better than Cristiano, and that was really impossible. It is a divorce that is difficult to solve. They will find a loan or a transfer for perhaps a low amount of money."

Bale, 29, has been at Real since 2013, when he signed from Tottenham Hotspur for £85 million, a world-record fee at the time.

On the basis of his trophy haul and goal return, his time at the club has been brilliantly successful:

However, he has never been hugely popular with Real's fans, and Thibaut Courtois revealed in February that Bale is not sociable with his team-mates and has not adapted to the Spanish way of life.

He has also suffered from inevitable comparisons with Ronaldo, who was understandably the star man in Real's squad for his nine seasons at the club. When he left for Juventus last summer, it looked like an opportunity for Bale to become Real's talisman, but he did not take it, returning just eight goals and three assists in La Liga in 2018-19.

Bale now looks set to be the second Galactico in as many summers to leave Real.