Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has called on fans to be more patient with world record signing Gareth Bale.
Since arriving at the Santiago Bernabéu in the summer from Tottenham Hotspurs for 100 million euro’s the Welsh international is yet to play a full ninety minutes as he battles with fitness issues.
He started the match against Barcelona at the weekend but made hardly any impression in the loss to the Catalans at the Nou Camp.
Ancelotti is well aware that it is not only a new club that Bale must adapt to but also a new country, and a different way of doing things.
.”It’s true that in the last few games he hasn’t done extraordinary things, but a player who arrives at a new team, in a new culture, needs time to adapt,” Ancelotti told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.
“The problem the player has is of adaptation. It’s not the same to play in Spain as in England.”
The Italian then laughed of the idea that Bale’s price tag influenced him to play the 24-year-old against Barcelona saying: “For me, Bale is a player the same as any other. I think he was a good signing for Real Madrid. Bale played because in my opinion he could play and create problems for Barcelona – only because of that.
“I didn’t put in Benzema because I didn’t want the opposing defenders to have a clear point of reference. Therefore, Bale started on the left and could change position with Di Maria.”
