It looks like Gareth Bale's Real Madrid career is coming to a reluctant end.

Reluctant on Bale's part, anyway - Real seem quite happy to get him off the books.

Zinedine Zidane doesn't appear to have any place for him in the squad but then he's never really looked happy to have him about.

There was talk that Bale would leave after his match-winning performance in the 2018 Champions League final, such was his poor relationship with Zidane.

The Frenchman's exit that summer meant Bale stuck around but his return looks likely to force the winger out the door.

So where next for a player who was once the most expensive in history?

China, apparently, and Jiangsu Suning, more specifically.

Jiangsu Suning boast ex-Internazionale players Eder and Miranda in their side, ex-Milan and Liverpool defender Gabriel Paletta, and Alex Teixeira - once a target of the Reds.

It's not the most glamourous move in football and Bale will, like the vast majority of players who move to China, appear to everyone as taking a big step down.

But according to the Guardian, the player is looking at things in glamourous terms anyway, by hoping he can have a 'David Beckham-like' impact in the far east.

Beckham helped grow Major League Soccer after leaving Real, of course, and Bale hopes to be a similar figure in China - one that they've spent years looking for.

It's difficult to have lofty ambitions in China but Bale has manged to find one.

If he does indeed help grow the sport like Beckham did with the United States, then few could ever call his move a step down.