Big-spending Manchester City resigned to the fact Gareth Bale is going to United

It's the rumour that just won't go away.

Gareth Bale is now 28 years old, and has been a Real Madrid player since 2013. In his three seasons at the Bernabeu, he has won *deep breath* one La Liga, one Copa del Rey, THREE Champions League trophies, one FIFA Club World Cup, and two UEFA Super Cups. He has also scored over 50 goals in 100 appearances. By all accounts, the proud Welshman is extremely happy at the club and had fully embraced the Madrid lifestyle. This is no homesick Brit desperate to return to Blighty because he misses chippy chips and brown sauce. Bale still feels he has plenty to prove and achieve at Real and has dismissed any rumours to the contrary. That all said, he seems to be perma-linked with a move to Manchester United. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and now Jose Mourinho have all consistently been reported to have a strong interest in the player, and of course Ed Woodward would love such a 'marquee' name at the club for prestige and marketing purposes. After Real Madrid lost to United's local rivals City at the LA Coliseum in the early hours of Thursday morning, manager Zinedine Zidane was asked whether he could confirm that his current forward line would be staying at the club, with talk that Bale may leave to make room for Monaco hotshot Kylian Mbappe. His response was hardly emphatic:

"I hope the BBC [Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo] stays. However, but I am not the one who decides this. I am the coach, it is for someone else to comment about that."

If that wasn't enough to get tongues inevitably wagging again, there is rather intriguing news that Manchester City - who are keen to hover up all the world stars they can this summer - have resigned themselves to the fact that Bale is not an option for them, and that the Welshman will end up at United. James Robson, Manchester City editor at the MEN, is out in LA following the sides exploits, and has been briefed as much by the Etihad club. He has also asked United about the story and received a straight bat response. https://twitter.com/JamesRobsonMEN/status/890303385139904512 Will Bale end up at Old Trafford or is this merely another baseless rumour? Who's to say? But it's interesting that City - who have no horse in this race and wouldn't benefit from the story coming out - are the source this time.