Gareth Bale not leaving Real Madrid next season, says agent

Madrid, July 21 (IANS) Gareth Bale's status as an outcast in Real Madrid seems to have been sealed with the scarce amount of appearances that coach Zinedine Zidane has given him this season. He also cut an awkward figure as the team celebrated their league title win last week.However, his agent Jonathan Barnett has said that Bale is happy at Madrid and is not intending to move anywhere. "Gareth is fine. He has two years left on his contract," he told BBC Sport."He likes living in Madrid and he is going nowhere."Barnett said that Bale remains one of the best players in the world and there is hardly any club in the world that could afford him."He is still as good as anyone else in the team. It's up to Zinedine Zidane. Of course there's been interest but there's hardly a club in the world which can afford him," he said. "It's a great loss that he's not in the Real Madrid team at the moment but he will not leave."While not quite fulfilling his tag of being the most expensive player in the world, Bale has played an important role in Madrid's four Champions League wins in five seasons, three of which came on the trot.
--IANS rkm/aak/bbh/