Britain’s Brexit limbo is now casting a shadow over its most popular export: football. Amid total political chaos and the looming prospect of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, Welsh international footballer Gareth Bale’s Real Madrid future is now uncertain.
An ESPN report said that in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, 29-year-old Bale, like every other British citizen living in the European Union outside the UK, could lose his right to work.
Brexit negotiations are going far from smoothly for Britain and the possibility of a bitter separation from the EU looms larger by the day. On 15 January, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal faced a historic defeat in the House of Commons by a margin of 230 votes.
On Wednesday, May, however, survived a no-confidence motion tabled after her deal — which she had negotiated for over two years — was rejected. UK is set to leave the EU on 29 March, but a ‘no deal’ Brexit could have adverse implications for working British citizens in the EU.
Bale’s agent told ESPN that the player was waiting to see what happens and hoping for both sides to reach an agreement.
Bale joined Spanish club Real Madrid in September 2013 for a then record fee of 100 million Euros and has gone on to score 74 goals in 141 La Liga appearances. Real Madrid would be watching the Brexit situation closely too as they stand to lose their second superstar wide forward after Cristiano Ronaldo left for Juventus in the summer.
Bale’s time at Madrid has seen its ups and downs; on one hand he has scored crucial goals for the club in La Liga and in the Champions League, and on the other, Madrid fans have not really taken to him. He scored a brace that included a stunning bicycle kick goal in the 2018 Champions League final against Liverpool, securing a fourth European Cup win for Madrid in five years. But the Welsh international has struggled to find appreciation among the Madridista, the club’s loyal and demanding fan base.
Rumours of his return to the Premier League have been floating around for a couple of years, with multiple links to Manchester United. After his sensational cameo in the 2018 Champions League final, Bale had also expressed his frustration about not getting regular starts at the club under then manager and club legend Zinedine Zidane.
Since then a lot has changed; Zidane and Ronaldo have departed and Madrid has fallen on hard times. New manager Julen Lopetegui, who had controversially left the Spain head coach position to join Real Madrid ahead of the 2018-19 season, was fired three months into his new job after an El Clasico thrashing at the hands of Barcelona and Madrid’s worst start to a season in 17 years. After his sacking, the club appointed its B-team coach Santiago Solari as caretaker manager and later handed him permanent managerial duties until 2021.
Rumours of an overhaul at the club are abound and Madrid is expected to flex its financial muscle and exercise transfer market clout in the upcoming summer. But while exciting new transfers might be on their way in, Bale could be on his way out of the Los Blancos. The prospect of Bale returning to England and the Premier League might just be the only silver lining to the cloud of Brexit.
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