Gareth Bale's dream move to Real Madrid has certainly stagnated in recent years with new, serious injuries at almost every turn.
The fit and fully firing Bale that began life at Los Blancos with winning goals in the Copa del Rey and Champions League finals seems a distant memory. Rumours of a Bernabeu departure and a potential return to the Premier League are certainly picking up traction.
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino didn't exactly rule out a move for Bale either, stating: “He’s always kept in contact with the people who worked here in the past.
“I don’t have a close relationship with him or the people around him. But you never know what's going to happen in football.”
How the remainder of the season pans out will go a long way to influence Bale's future at the club with the Welshman freshly returning from injury in promising form.
On his day, the 28-year-old forms a brilliant attacking triumvirate with Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane is undoubtedly a fan.
Quite unlike, of all people, Diego Maradona.
The Argentinean has given an in-depth interview with Spanish magazine AS this week and eventually got onto the topic of Real Madrid and boy wonder Kylian Mbappe.
In the opinion of Maradona, Bale simply can't compare to the young Frenchman and Los Blancos, who tailed Mbappe this summer, should try again in the New Year.
Maradona advised: "They should sell Bale, they should give him away.
"I expect Florentino wouldn't, but maybe he can do a deal, and let Bale go to AC Milan or Inter.
"They have to sign Mbappe, for me he's the next big thing, he could overtake many players."
It's certainly a fair suggestion that Mbappe will eventually usurp players such as Bale but suggesting that the older model is offloaded to Serie A is, well, bizarre.
Sadly for Maradona, too, it's unlikely that Real Madrid would go ahead with his plan and he should know that from experience.
The World Cup winner revealed: "I told Florentino [Perez, Real president] to sign Mbappe but he told me had Cristiano Ronaldo."
Now that's a pretty good counterargument.
Perhaps a Bale-Mbappe swap would be a prudent decision in the future for Madrid, just not now. Mbappe is just settling into his Paris Saint-Germain move and is still 18, while Bale will hope to regain fitness in coming months.
Difficult to see Bale fancying an Inter Milan switch all of a sudden, Diego.
Do you think Gareth Bale would succeed back in the Premier League? Have your say in the comments section below.
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