Bale and his family not responsible for China move collapse, says agent

Gareth Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett has denied rumours that the Real Madrid forward and his family were behind the collapse of his move to Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning.

Jiangsu were believed to be close to securing the Welshman’s signature after offering him a deal worth around £1 million a week.

However, reports over the weekend claimed that Real Madrid had put a stop to the move as they did not want him to leave on a free transfer.

Further reports from Spain on Sunday then claimed that it was actually Bale and his family who had blocked the deal as they were reluctant to move to the Far East, instead urging his agent to find an alternative club in Europe.

Those suggestions have been swiftly denied by Barnett, who told Sky Sports, "Any stories suggesting that Gareth or his family were the reason the deal did not take place are completely false.”

Any chance of the transfer being revived were seemingly ended on Monday when Jiangsu announced the signing of Croatian striker Ivan Santini from Anderlecht to reach their quota of foreign players.

Chinese Super League regulations limit the number of overseas-born players to four.

Jiangsu are unlikely to sell any of their existing foreign players to create a space for Bale, particularly with the Chinese transfer window closing on Wednesday.

As a result, Bale now faces an uncertain future with Real manager Zinedine Zidane having made it clear that the former Tottenham man is not in his plans and his agent indicating that there are no other offers on the table.

Real have found it hard to offload the forward, who has three years left on his contract, as few clubs are willing to match his wages.

Los Blancos are also looking to receive a fee for the former Southampton player as they look to recoup some cash following a significant summer outlay on the likes of Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic.

Despite the uncertainty Bale has been included in Zidane’s squad for pre-season and may yet force his way into the Frenchman’s plans following a serious injury suffered by fellow forward Marco Asensio.