By Paul Giblin
MADRID, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- "I am happy with Bale, we have to take it slowly with him. We want him to get to his best level and I am going to see how to manage him in the coming games."
That was the explanation Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane gave when asked why Gareth Bale had started his side's 3-1 win in Leganes on the subs' bench, the third time in a row he has been out of the starting 11.
Cameras trained on the dugout showed the Welsh international looking unhappy at the decision, and he even left the bench briefly to visit the dressing room during the first half of the game, but what caught the most attention was that he wasn't even wearing his boots.
Although Bale got into the game as a 73rd minute substitute, it wasn't enough to push questions about his role in the side.
The winger has been fit for two months since recovering from the torn muscle he suffered against Borussia Dortmund on Sept. 26, but since that game in September he has yet to play a full 90 minutes. Indeed, Bale has clocked up less than 900 minutes football in the Liga Santander all season, while others such as Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez, who opened the scoring on Wednesday night, have staked their claim in the Madrid starting 11.
There was a time when the so-called 'BBC' - Bale, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo - was not open to negotiation at Real Madrid: if the trio were fit they played every big game. But they were fit against Paris Saint Germain 10 days ago and Bale started on the bench with Isco in the side, and now it is beginning to look as if there is a "Bale issue" at Real Madrid.
The striker has a long history of muscle problems, both at Madrid and at Tottenham, that comes partly because of his explosive style of play, but after spending over 100 million euros to buy him in 2013, could it be that Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez is losing patience?
Bale is 28 years old and it is well known there are clubs in England willing to pay big money to take him back to the Premier League, but another injury lasting as long as his last one would see him out of action until the end of the season. Such an issue would no doubt affect his price, and maybe the word has reached Zidane that such an important financial asset cannot be risked.
Real Madrid will certainly look to sign one or two world class forwards over the summer, and that means someone also has to leave. At the moment that 'someone' could be Bale.
