Report: Real Madrid open to Bale negotiations with Manchester United

On the eve of a massive test of both his fitness and role in Zinedine Zidane's squad, Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale has been linked with a shock return to the Premier League.

Amid an injury-riddled campaign in which Real has arguably appeared better with Isco manning Bale's spot in the starting XI, the Independent's Miguel Delaney reports that the Spaniards are open to negotiating with Manchester United as a means of bankrolling potential moves for Chelsea's Eden Hazard and Monaco teen talent Kylian Mbappe.

Consistent with Los Blancos president Florentino Perez's policy of signing "Galacticos," sources in Spain and Manchester have said that Real is willing to listen to offers for the 27-year-old Welshmen to help fund moves for the aforementioned pair.

United has long been enamoured with the pacey winger, and with a potential move for Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann at an impasse tethered to the club's transfer ban, Bale's current standing in Real's lineup could fuel an unlikely move.

A trio of reasons could contribute to hesitancy on the part of the Premier League giant in luring Bale - the world-record signing prior to United's standard-setting swoop for Paul Pogba - to Manchester, including a reported move for Inter's Ivan Perisic, the desire to make a transfer for a striker a priority, and an unwillingness to have Real leverage David De Gea in a move for Bale.

Perisic, who favours playing on the left win, has been linked with a €52-million move to Old Trafford. Pair that with suggestions that United has shifted its focus to a striker in light of uncertainties concerning Zlatan Ibrahimovic's future, and tabling an offer would seem superfluous if not characteristically Mourinho-like.

Compound that with the club's desire to block first-choice shot-stopper De Gea's long-rumoured move to the Santiago Bernabeu, and there are several obstacles in the way of Bale's return to England's top flight. That said, stranger things have happened at Manchester United.