Alexis Sanchez update, PSG want €190 million duo in exchange for Neymar, Pogba desperate for Real Madrid move and more: Transfer Roundup, 16 August 2019

Zinedine Zidane says Bale will be used as much as any player following Hazard's injury

In what is quite a bit of sad news on the eve of their season opener, Real Madrid forward Eden Hazard has picked up a hamstring injury and is bound to be sidelined for 4-8 weeks. As such, Gareth Bale's role in the upcoming season has once again become a topic of discussion.

Bale was initially all set to be offloaded. However, Marco Asensio's injury meant that Real Madrid had to keep him and now with Hazard also unavailable, Zizou has no choice but to turn to the Welshman.

Speaking about Bale, the Real Madrid manager said,

“It seemed that he was going, but now he is with us,”

“Things change and now I will be using him as much as the other players in the squad. I'm going to use all the players I've got. He is registered with us and he is a good player. I hope all the players here want to make things difficult for me."

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad