James Rodriguez And Gareth Bale Slammed By Spanish Press For Struggles At ‘Lower-Ranked Clubs’

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The Spanish press have once again formed a witch hunt against James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale, by claiming the recent Premier League struggles of the pair proves Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane right.

Zidane made no secret of his desire to move both stars on from the Bernabeu, given their limited playing time and eye-watering salaries.

And now reports in Spain have been released slamming the players despite their departures from the club, in a bizarre back-patting gesture to Madrid for finally cutting their losses.

A comment piece published on Wednesday morning in Marca again brought both James and Bale under the spotlight, despite the duo no longer playing their football in the Spanish capital.

Some due credit was handed to James’ strong start to the season under Carlo Ancelotti during which he scored three goals in the opening five games and provided three assists as Everton shot to the top of the league.

But his recent drop off, predominantly due to injury, was then given heavy focus with the publication seemingly desperate to stack up evidence to prove Zidane correct.

Marca state that James started the season with strong early form, as he did previously during a loan spell with Bayern Munich, but ‘little by little he has been diluted and his benefits diminished.’

It is further claimed that James was ‘inspiring a crowd that now doubts his contribution’ at Goodison Park.

When turning focus to Bale, the pantomime villain of the Spanish media, no punches were pulled as the Welshman’s injury troubles were laid bare and particular emphasis given to the fact that the knee injury which troubled him in Madrid still persists.

It is also noted that Bale is now ‘relegated’ to the Europa League, with suggestion of an inability to break into the Tottenham senior ranks under Jose Mourinho.

A thinly veiled swipe is also taken at both Everton and Spurs, with the Premier League sides being labelled ‘clearly lower rank than Madrid,’ adding that the transfer of the players to either club has left Zidane with ‘no remorse.’

This comes after particular attention has been paid to Bale’s big money loan move away from Madrid, with the Spanish giants fearing the £650,000-per-week star will be sent back and have his loan deal cut short.

At present Bale occupies a huge slice of the Spurs wage bill – with the club willing to foot half of his weekly income – despite hardly featuring.

It was confirmed this week that Bale is set to miss ‘the next few weeks’ following the flare up of a calf issue, sustained playing in the Carabao Cup against Stoke.

The 31-year-old missed a 1-1 stalemate with Wolves as a result, as Spurs failed to make up ground at the summit of the Premier League.

By: m.allfootballapp.com