Rio Ferdinand urges Gareth Bale to join Manchester United

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has urged Gareth Bale to leave Real Madrid and return to the Premier League this summer.

Bale cast doubt over his future immediately after coming off the bench to score twice in Saturday's Champions League final against Liverpool, inspiring his team to a third straight trophy with one of the greatest goals in the competition's history.

The Welsh winger insisted that he would not be happy to continuing playing a bit-part role at the Bernabeu, and Ferdinand believes that he should move to a club where he would be the main man rather than playing "supporting cast" to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Gareth Bale 4 CL winners medals, 3 CL finals goals - what more is there to do at @realmadrid for @garethbale11? He was brought there to eventually take over the mantle as the teams talisman from @cristiano but the Portuguese megastar has not played ball with that idea Real had regarding #Bale. He has sustained a relentless assault on collecting individual & collective team awards through his phenomenal goal scoring exploits since Bale arrived in #Madrid. Some may say Gareth's non combative nature and him not having an ego to rival Ronaldo's has played its part in holding Gareth back from going on to take the top dog spot at Madrid's top table - who knows but it was never going to be easy. But what he has done is produce magic moments on the big stage - in finals, and played a vital role in this record breaking squad lead by the great @zidane. Whatever anyone has to say about him he has etched himself into the history of Real Madrid, a club that prides itself on winning the biggest prize in European club football. Now I feel it's up to him to decide what he wants. Some will say he has nothing to prove & I understand that to a certain extent but does he want to go somewhere & be the main man & take on the full responsibility of a club who want to win? Or does he want to remain & continue in the role he is in now, as the supporting cast...? Personally I would love to see him come back to the @premierleague (preferably with @manchesterunited) & dominate. Write a new chapter as a leader of a club, the go to guy at all times, the icon....this is what the greats do in all sports not just football, it elevates them... 4 @championsleague winners medals, 3 #UCL finals goals 🔥

A post shared by Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) on May 28, 2018 at 7:03am PDT

Bale - who has been a long-term target for Manchester United - made 39 appearances for Madrid across all competitions during the 2017-18 campaign, but started only 24 of those.