Gareth Bale's agent hits out at 'disgraceful' Spanish media over treatment of Real Madrid forward

Gareth Bale's agent has hit out at what he calls 'disgraceful' treatment of the Real Madrid forward by the Spanish media.

Jonathan Barnett told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday that the 30-year-old is 'happy' at the Santiago Bernabeu, where he is under contract until 2022, but went on the attack in another radio interview on Friday as he complained of the constant negativity in the press surrounding his player.

"Nothing bad has ever come out of Real Madrid about Gareth Bale, and [Zinedine] Zidane has never said anything bad about Gareth Bale – but the press keep on making things up," he told talkSPORT.

“So-called ‘experts’ come on television time and time again and say things like ‘the biggest problem with Gareth Bale is that he doesn’t speak Spanish, and it’s a disgrace’.

“Those people have never met him, and never asked anybody, so I have no idea where they get this opinion. Gareth Bale speaks Spanish, so I don’t want to hear these so-called ‘experts’ who make complete idiots of themselves when they come on TV to speak rubbish.

“And I also blame the TV companies for bringing these so-called ‘experts’ on; how can these ‘experts’ on Gareth Bale speak about Gareth Bale when they’ve, a) never met him, and b) wouldn’t even recognise him half the time. It’s a joke!”

Asked about his relationship with Bale, Barnett said: “It’s always been good."

And on his dealings with Real, he added: “I’ve had the most fantastic relationship with the president, the chief executive and Zidane.

“We’ve obviously said words with each other, but everybody has an argument or so. But it’s never been personal and its never been bad, and we are all on good speaking terms.”