The potential arrival of Gareth Bale to Manchester United is a topic that has been discussed constantly this summer.
The Real Madrid winger has been seemingly forever on the transfer list, but the rumours are even more real now. With Kylian Mbappe likely joining Los Merengues, it is not a secret that Madrid would have to sell one of their attackers to make the move happen. And Bale would be the odd man out in the situation.
In fact, according to Spanish newspaper MARCA, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane is reportedly facing up to the reality that if he wants to sign Monaco wunderkind Mbappe then he will have to sell Bale. And considering United have coveted Bale since his Tottenham days, the move makes sense.
Why would Madrid sell Ball is quite simple. The Welsh is more dispensable than fellow ‘BBC’ members Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. And Real believe they will be able to receive around £90m for Bale. That is similar to what United paid to acquire Pogba from Juventus last summer.
When pressed about signing his compatriot Mbappe, Zidane has repeatedly said: “by August 31, everything can happen”. And indeed, everything can happen. So we shouldn’t be surprised if Bale becomes a United player in the coming days. Considering FC Barcelona are also trying to sign Mbappe, the transfers could happen quicker than expected. As a result, the club officials must be wary of what every team do.
The Red Devils should jump at the chance of signing Bale if it arises. Even though he will be expensive, Bale would give the side far more quality in the final third. And if we consider Inter do not want to sell Ivan Perisic, Mourinho needs to start looking at alternatives. Truthfully, there aren’t many wingers who are better than Bale. And the ones who are might not be available on the market at the moment.
It all depends on whether Real Madrid acquire Mbappe or not. But as soon as the first domino falls, the rest will follow soon. And while Bale is still far away from Old Trafford, this is the closest he has been to join the side in recent months. And United needs to keep a close eye on the winger.
United have Martial, Young, Valencia and Lingard who can all carry the ball down the wing and cross it into the middle but they don’t have an attacking force like Alexis Sanchez. Mykhitarian and Mata are similar but just not as good. Sanchez can dribble around opponents in a telephone box and adding him to the squad would significantly amplify the ability of United to dribble the ball right up the gut of opponents and would force opponents to cluster toward the middle. If Sanchez cannot see a direct scoring opportunity, he can easily pass the ball out to the wing to let it be crossed into the middle. It’s then that a cross into the middle becomes dangerous especially with the height of United and Fellaini, as one of best headers of the ball in professional football, becomes extremely dangerous. Bale would, no doubt, create more scoring opportunities, but I believe there is no way he could not create as many good scoring opportunities.