Barnett: Bale wants to stay at Real Madrid, so we'll speak to Mr Zidane LaLiga Santander Future of the forward

With Gareth Bale's future up in the air following Zinedine Zidane's reappointment as Real Madrid coach, the player's agent Jonathan Barnett has insisted that he wants to stay at the Estadio Santiago Bernarbeu.

Although things looked tough under Santiago Solari, it looked like with arrival of Zidane would put the Welshman into the final stretch of his Real Madrid career given the breakdown in the relationship between the pair during the Frenchman's initial tenure.

However, when quizzed on Bale's future Barnett was insistent that he wants to remain in the Spanish capital.

"Yes, why not? He wants to play all his career for Real Madrid and if it does not work out, we will talk again," Barnett told BBC Five Live.

"He will talk with Mr. Zidane, take it from there and then see at the end of the season.

"We [Barnett and Bale] speak a lot. The closest person to him is my son Joshua who is really his agent and he looks after him, he has done a good job."

Given that over time Bale and Zidane grew distant and after the Champions League final in Kiev, the Welshman hinted that he may look to pastures new, Barnett explained why the breakdown happened.

"Gareth wanted to play one way and Zidane wanted to play another," the agent said. "That was the cause of it and over a period of time it got worse.

"If you let Gareth play the way he wants to play, having a run of games in a row not in and out, he can be right up there with Cristiano Ronaldo. He still has a great talent."

One area in which Barnett was not too happy was the press and the fans at the Bernabeu who he was quick to criticise.

"Gareth is very strong," Barnett went on. "He is a very strong-willed person and does not care what the press say.

"The jeering [from the fans] is not something that bothers him, he does not understand what he has to do.

"Look at his record, what he has won and how he has played. In years to come, these people who are booing him, their children will be looking at the goals he scored and will be saying, 'what a wonderful player'."