La Liga
MANCHESTER UNITED WADES INTO BALE’S NIGHTMARE AT REAL MADRID
With Gareth Bale set for a showdown talks with Zinedine Zidane over his future at Real Madrid, Spanish newspaper, Marca has reported that Manchester United are keen at getting the Welsh player.
Bale hit out at Real Madrid in a recorded interview, for making it ‘very difficult’ for him to leave, and admitted he would consider a return to the Premier League.
According to Marca, Real Madrid are preparing ‘operation exit’ for the frustrated Welshman following his return from international duty.
It adds that Jose Mourinho would ‘love to have’ Bale at Tottenham, but chairman Daniel Levy has ‘no money’.
While it is clear both parties believe it’s better for the 31-year-old to leave the club, Real have not had any offers as yet and there is the complicated issue that they are unwilling to pay off the remaining two years of his salary.
According to Daily Mail, Bale’s €17million (£15.1m) wages over his remaining two years would mean Madrid would have to negotiate a possible €34m (£30.2m) pay-off which they are not in a position to do.
Following Bale’s interview with Sky Sports, the winger and Zidane are set for an awkward face-to-face meeting to try to facilitate the end of his Madrid nightmare.
Bale has has been frozen out of the Madrid set-up Zidane. . The player who joined Madrid in 2013 in a then world-record £86million deal from Tottenham , only played 20 times in all competitions last season, cut a dejected figure during their title celebrations and has become infuriated with the club’s handling of his potential departure.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Bale also expressed frustration at Madrid thwarting his mega-money move to the Chinese Super League. He was on the brink of a move to Jiangsu Suning on a three-year deal reported to be worth in the region of £1m per week.
He said: ‘Last year they blocked everything at the last second, so it was a project that I was excited for last year but it didn’t materialise.
‘There have been other incidents when we’ve tried to go but the club wouldn’t allow it or have done something, so as for the club, what can I say.
‘I want to play and I’m still motivated to play football so I guess it’s on the club really. I can’t really do much, they are in control of everything. I have a contract so all I can do is carry on doing what I’m doing and hopefully something comes up.
‘As I’ve said it’s in the club’s hands and they make it very difficult, to be honest.’
Asked if he is keen to move to the Premier League again, Bale added: ‘As I said it’s not really in my hands, I think it’s one of those situations if offers arrived it would be something I’d look at for sure but we will have to see what happens.
‘We have got plenty of time left in this transfer window and others as well but time will tell. Mainly the reason is the decision is in Real Madrid’s hands.’
Marca state that Bale’s Madrid team-mates are ‘indifferent’ to his situation as they already see him ‘out of the club’ after he was left out at games against Leganes and Manchester City at the end of last season.
Madrid are determined to offload some players including James Rodriguez who is set for a move to Everton, so they can therefore spend on new players.
Manchester United have been linked with Bale on numerous occasions in recent years.
So far this summer, they have made just the one signing – Donny van de Beek from Ajax for £40m.
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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