It's been almost four months since Zinedine Zidane left Real Madrid, but the stories about that saga keep on hitting front pages around the world. The following story involved Zizou, his former boss Florentino Pérez, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
According to a report published earlier today by Spanish newspaper El País, the Welshman had a key role in Zidane's decision to leave the club. This report suggests that Zidane and Real's boss Florentino Pérez had agreed to transfer Bale during the summer, regardless of what happened by the end of the season. Pérez vowed to buy players that adjusted more to Zidane's ideals after Bale's sale was completed, with the names of Eden Hazard and Harry Kane at the top of Zizou's wishlist.
Zidane's reasons to transfer Bale had to do with his discipline on the pitch, along with the number of injuries he picked up every season. According to El País, Zidane saw Bale as a reckless and irregular footballer, who only thought about himself and never thought about what the team needed.
Zidane entered a tug of war with Florentino Pérez regarding Gareth Bale's future, which he ended up losing.
But things changed after the 2018 UEFA Champions League final. Florentino Pérez's euphoric reaction to Bale's brace against Liverpool saw him screaming out loud that Bale was "even better than Cristiano Ronaldo," because he always scored goals during the big games. Right after the final, Bale went on TV to say he was thinking about leaving Real Madrid, which caused Florentino Pérez to break his deal with Zidane.
The Spanish boss had a meeting with Bale, asking him to be patient. Zidane was informed about this meeting and became offended by his boss' attitude, since he believed he had the right to know about this change of strategy. By the time Florentino Pérez summoned him up to plan the 2018-19 campaign, Zidane had already decided to part ways with Los Blancos.
Four months after this decision, Florentino Pérez is being slammed for his decision to sign Julen Lopetegui as Zidane's replacement, Bale picked up one more injury and Zidane is being linked to almost every top-caliber club in Europe. Who will come up as the winner of this tug of war? We will have our answer next summer.