Real Madrid's transfer activity has been brought to a halt due to the lack of offers for those players that have been shown the exit door. One of those players is Gareth Bale, who has been repeatedly told to look for other employment options, but the Welshman and his agent are playing hardball.
Last Saturday, Zinedine Zidane spoke about the reasons why Bale did not play against Bayern, letting the world know that a transfer involving the footballer was in the works, adding that it would be better for everyone to complete said deal. Apparently, those words were not taken lightly by Bale's camp, and Zidane stepped up to clarify his comments in a press conference held earlier.
The French tactician ruled out having disrespected Bale, and shared how he did not use the Welsh on Saturday's because he was the one who requested to be left out.
"Sometimes I get in trouble due to my not-so-fluent Spanish, but I'll try to be clear this time about Gareth. First of all, I did not disrespect anyone, I wouldn't do that to a player, because I've always said how important they are to me. Then, I said that the club was looking to transfer him. Period. Lastly, and I think I should've said this before, he did not play last Saturday's game because he did not want to get changed for it. He told us that the club was negotiating his exit, and that was it," Zidane said.
Zidane refused to address agent Jonathan Barnett's words about him being a "disgrace" and his desire to see Bale living up to the end of his contract with the club. Instead, he revealed what his plan is when it comes to seeing the Welshman on the pitch or not.
"He is a Real Madrid player and he will train with the rest of the team, and we'll see if he plays against Arsenal. There has been no update on his negotiation," Zidane added.
The French tactician named his primary goal for Tuesday's ICC match between Los Blancos and Arsenal.
"We know that they have played more games than us, but we need to focus on how our players feel around themselves on the pitch. We need to play like we did on Saturday (against Bayern), dominate possession and make it a better game by winning, that's our main goal for the upcoming game," Zidane added.
