Real Madrid are demanding more from Gareth Bale

Santiago Solari isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to Gareth Bale. He wants more production from the Welsh winger now that he’s fit.

Gareth Bale may have delivered a Champions League title to Real Madrid last season, but that’s ancient history now. Santiago Solari is demanding more from his world-class attacker now that he’s returned to full fitness.

In fact, that Spanish press believes Bale might be playing for his future in Spain. Marca make no efforts at hiding their belief that Real Madrid may want to part with the winger next summer. They go so far as to list Tottenham and Manchester United as his most likely landing spots.

In fairness to Solari, Bale hasn’t been all that good for Los Blancos this season. Bale has scored three goals and two assists during that time frame, but that’s not enough for a player with such prodigious offensive talent.

In all fairness, all this talk is likely just a ploy by Solari to assert his dominance at the club. He’s a caretaker manager at the moment and Bale is arguably the club’s biggest star. Pointing out his shortcomings to the press is a clear way for him to wield some power. Bale isn’t the sort of player who’s going to fire back publicly. That makes it a pretty safe play by the fledgling Real Madrid boss.

It still might work out well for Solari. Bale is a very prideful player and the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo at the club has created a meaningful power void in the Real Madrid dressing room. Look for Bale to try to assert his power on the pitch over the next several weeks.