Football news - Gareth Bale at Madrid is now a cautionary tale - but he was warned

The Wales international is one of the most unpopular figures in Madrid at the moment, no matter who you ask: the press, his manager, his team-mates. It's enough to make you feel sorry for him - unless of course you saw it all coming.

It is easy now that Bale has not settled into Spanish life or the Real Madrid team to say that he should have made more of an effort to adapt himself and not rely on his work on the pitch to do the talking. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But if you sift through the papers from the summer when he made his £85million world record transfer to Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur, plenty of people were saying the same thing.

Before he flew out for pre-season, he was filmed alongside Steve McManaman on a balcony overlooking Cardiff, talking about what life might be like in Spain. It was a glitzy, PR interview with little substance to it and Bale shied away from too much discussion of any potential struggles. It was clear at that point that he was not a natural talker or socialiser. Even then, the message from McManaman was clear: become part of life in Madrid and the Madridista will buy into you.

A few weeks later the former Liverpool and Real forward told the BBC how important Bale's attitude to life would be: "He will have to go out and show willing and want to learn the language, and adapt to the Spanish lifestyle."

Three years later, this author spoke to McManaman and we inevitably discussed at length about life in Spain and Bale in Madrid. It is a sign of how long Bale's stay of execution has been that the stories about him leaving were much the same then as they are now.

It quickly became clear that McManaman had felt learning Spanish was his breakthrough in Madrid and that Bale's failure to follow suit was starting to damage his career.

"I needed to go to restaurants with my wife and for somebody not to understand what I was saying," McManaman said.

"I needed to say ‘is this duck?’ and make duck noises and flap my arms around.

"Then I’d think what an idiot I was and that I needed to learn the language as quickly as possible."

If ever there was an example for Bale to heed, it is the ex-Liverpool forward, who won two Champions Leagues for Los Blancos and redefined a position while there. He remains a respected voice on the club. If there was one to ignore, it was Michael Owen, who lived in hotel for five months and came home after a year and like Bale probably played too much golf.

Now, there are plenty of loud voices saying what 'Macca' has been saying for so many years, mostly those with Bale's best interests at heart.

The reality is that he has now backed himself into a corner and with his injury record, it may be hard to find a club willing to pay his wages. Anyone who is willing and able can surely find something better to spend the cash on. It seems he is happy to see out the rest of his contract at Real Madrid, a three-year spell that would surely end his career, and while at 33 he would likely retire with a healthy goal-scoring and trophy record, he surely would not have enjoyed the closing years.

When Bale went abroad, it was still something of a novelty for British players to do so. Now it is becoming more and more commonplace.

Some are choosing Germany, perhaps because the culture and climate of northern Europe is more palatable than a switch to the Iberian peninsula. But young and old they are travelling overseas in search of something different, and they would all do well to learn from what has happened to Bale.

Many of them might point to his four Champions League victories, 102 goals and millions of Euros earned in wages and say 'who cares if he didn't speak Spanish?'. Joe Cole in the Sun today is one of those.

"Gareth Bale has been a monumental success since he’s been there. Nothing that happens in this next six or 18 months can change that," the former England winger said.

He is right to an extent, but the whole truth is that this honour roll is the low end of what he could have achieved. Had he been more settled in Spain, perhaps his injuries would not have been so persistent, he might have cut a happier figure on and off the field and who knows what level his performances might have hit.

Hopefully Bale does not spend a year or longer sitting on the bench or in the stands at the Bernabeu - but if he does it will be a problem of his own making. It might have all been so different.