Gareth Bale must be ‘an a***hole’ if he is to finally win over Real Madrid fans, warns Rafael van der Vaart
GARETH BALE has to be an “a***hole” if he has any chance of winning back the Real Madrid fans, according to his former Tottenham team-mate Rafael van der Vaart.
The Welshman’s future has been under a cloud all season as he has struggled to help fill the huge void left by Cristiano Ronaldo who joined Juventus.
His relationship with the Madristas can’t get much worse – the Bernabeu faithful booed him as he was dragged off as Los Blancos lost to Barcelona earlier this month.
The 29-year-old fell down the pecking order under Zinedine Zidane and the Frenchman’s to the Spanish capital will not help matters.
Bale joined Real from Tottenham for a then-world record £85million fee in 2013 and has won four Champions Leagues and one La Liga title.
Van der Vaart went in the opposite direction in 2010, leaving Real for Spurs, where he spent two seasons playing alongside the Welshman.
The Dutch playmaker who retired in November reckons his former team-mate needs to be more selfish to turn around his fortunes in the Spanish capital.
Bale has to fight back
He told Standard Sport: “It’s strange, but in Holland we say that sometimes you need to be an a***hole.
“You can also be a positive a***hole.
“He’s worth £100m — they paid a lot of money and he has to do it. In his last year at Spurs, he took every free-kick, he decided everything.
“That’s what he has to do (at Real).
“I realise it’s difficult, because you have so many good players, but he should do it more.”
But Van der Vaart, who spent two seasons at Real, knows that any Real Madrid player can feel the wrath of the fans, but insists Bale has what it takes to fight back.
He added: “Gareth is an amazing player but he’s a person that has to feel the confidence.
“He has to feel he is welcome. But I know Real is a difficult club if you don’t perform. It doesn’t matter if you’re Ronaldo, Bale or Van der Vaart — they’ll throw you out after just one year.
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“You have to deal with it — and I don’t know if he can do that.
“I know him as a person and, with a Spurs hat, I always hope he’ll say, ‘Okay, I’ll come back’.
“ I don’t think it’s going to happen, but that would be a nice story.”
