Gareth Bale set to join another club this summer after Real Madrid disaster

Bale failed to secure minutes under returning manager Carlo Ancelotti, who had a good relationship with the player in his previous stint

Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale is running down the last few months of his contract with Real Madrid, and was thought to have been on his way to retirement on the club level. However, recent reports are claiming that he is already set to join another club next season.

With the Welshman hoping to play more competitive football for the rest of the year, a report from El Nacional states that he has agreed a pre-contract to return to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for a third stint.

He came to Real Madrid from Tottenham in 2013, and returned to the club on a loan spell during the 2020-21 season. He returned to the Spanish capital at the start of the current campaign, and seemed to be in good form. However, a calf and then a back problem kept him sidelined after making only three appearances.

Since being declared fit recently, manager Carlo Ancelotti has not relied on the player even if he was on the bench. With Karim Benzema currently injured, it remains to be seen if the Italian will finally give Bale some minutes.

For his part, Bale knows that his Real Madrid contract won't be renewed when it expires this summer, but he is still hoping for Wales to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. They are currently in the play-offs, and if they go through, he will want to play competitive football in the months leading up to the World Cup in December.

It remains to be seen if the pre-contract agreement does exist, with neither party making an official announcement as of now. Wales will be going up against Austria in the semi-finals of the play-offs for the World Cup spot on March 24. If they win, they will go up against either Scotland or Ukraine in the do-or-die match for the remaining spot.