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Gareth Bale’s agent has told ESPN FC the player is set for talks with new Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui about his future with the European champions.
Reports in Spain claimed that Bale had scrapped plans to meet with club chiefs because of Cristiano Ronaldo’s potential move to Juventus and Lopetegui replacing Zinedine Zidane.
Bale voiced frustration about his lack of regular games following his match-winning display in the Champions League final victory over Liverpool in May.
AS claimed a planned meeting between Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett and the club’s hierarchy had been cancelled, but ESPN FC has been told that the report is “wrong” and that a meeting will still take place.
Barnett said that his client will “speak to the [new] coach [Lopetegui] and we will go from there.”
Bale faces competition from Isco, who knows Lopetegui well from his time with Spain’s national team, while Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio were also named in La Roja‘s squad for this summer’s World Cup.
Bale is under contract at the Bernabeu until the end of the 2021-22 season, having signed a six-year deal in October 2016.
Although regularly linked with a return to the Premier League throughout his five seasons in Spain, he has always dismissed the idea publicly until last season.
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcorrigan
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