Gareth Bale looks set to remain at Real Madrid, a club that does not want him, after the board blocked his lucrative transfer to China. The Wales winger had been expected to join the Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning on a three-year deal this week with a contract worth more than £1mn a week. 
That move is now off after the Madrid board reportedly decided they want a transfer fee for the player who joined Madrid from Tottenham in 2013 for a then world-record fee of £85mn.
President Florentino Perez is believed to have requested an extra payment to sign the 30-year-old, who still has three years remaining on the contract he signed in 2016 which is worth around £600,000 a week. With the Chinese transfer window to shut on Wednesday, Bale’s hopes of sealing a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu this summer could now rest on him finding another club in Europe, with Real said to be prepared to join a Champions League rival for the right price.
The English transfer window shuts on August 8 – the day before the start of the 2019/20 season – but so far no Premier League clubs have expressed an interest in signing one of the world’s best-paid players. Yet despite coming off the bench for the second successive match as Real were thrashed 7-3 by Atletico Madrid in New Jersey over the weekend and an Marco Asensio’s extended absence due to a knee injury, Bale’s prospects of being reintegrated into Zinedine Zidane’s first team still appear slim after the Frenchman’s sustained and very public campaign to move him out of the club.
After leaving Bale out of a pre-season game against Bayern Munich last week, which Madrid lost, Zidane said he hoped the player would be sold. 
“We hope he leaves soon,” he said. “It would be best for everyone. We are working on his transfer to a new team. I have nothing personal against him but there comes a time where things are done because they must be done.”
Bale’s representatives are understood to be disappointed with Real’s stance having negotiated the deal with Jiangsu over the last fortnight, with time running out to secure an alternative destination for next season. He has won four Champions League titles with the club but has been sidelined by Zidane since he returned to Madrid this spring for a second spell as the manager – a decision described as “bad news” by Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett.
Yet according to Spanish newspaper Marca, often a mouthpiece for the Real board and Perez in particular, the breakdown in negotiations with Jiangsu – whose owners Suning also own Internazionale – was caused by a request from Bale’s own family, who would reportedly prefer to stay in Europe.
Zidane remains keen to have the situation resolved as quickly as possible, with a potential move for Manchester United’s Paul Pogba potentially hinging on finding a buyer for Bale. Real have already spent close to £300mn on new recruits this summer but must balance the books with player sales if they are to finance a move for the France midfielder that cost in excess of £100mn.
Bale has won four Champions Leagues, one La Liga title, a Copa del Rey, three Uefa Super Cups and three Club World Cups. Bale scored three goals, plus a penalty in a shootout, in four Champions League finals for Real as they won the competition in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Bale has made just 79 La Liga starts in the last four years because of injury problems but with Barnett having ruled out a loan move this summer, he could find himself left in limbo this season. He played 42 matches for Real Madrid last season but was booed by the home supporters at times during the campaign.
Real suffered a nightmare campaign last season, finishing third in the table and 19 points behind champions and bitter rivals Barcelona. They were also knocked out of the Champions League by Ajax in the last 16 stage.
The Bale transfer saga is just the latest grim development for Real and Zidane. Serbian starlet Luka Jovic hobbled off in the first half of the defeat to Atletico.
Zidane can only hope the news on his injury will be better than that of Asensio, who could miss most if not all of the La Liga season after rupturing a knee ligament against Arsenal in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday.