Sergio Ramos Discusses Gareth Bale's Rumoured Failure to Integrate With Real Madrid Squad

Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has suggested that Gareth Bale should be disappointed with himself for failing to embrace life in Spain.

The Welshman was incredibly close to leaving the Santiago Bernabeu this summer after a turbulent few years with Real, which has seen both Thibaut Courtois and Marcelo speak about his failure to integrate with the rest of the squad.

David Ramos/GettyImages

Asked about Bale at the London screening of his new fly-on-the-wall docuseries, El Corazon de Sergio Ramos, in August, Ramos insisted that the Welshman is undoubtedly a fantastic player and has the right to do whatever he wants, but the Spaniard did add that his lifestyle leaves a lot to be desired.

He said (via Daily Mail): "I think Bale's a great player and he's been really important for the club in the years he's been with us. You find many things in the press. Some are true, some are not. We live in this world and we have to try to be above all that.

"Regarding what has been said about Gareth, I think time puts everything in place. Regardless of what each player does in his personal life, I think it should be respected and not even talked about. We're free to do what we want with our free time.

"Of course, professionally, you owe yourself to a team, to a club, and you try to be as honest as possible. Afterwards, it's up to each person to go home with a clear conscience or not."

Ramos then went on to discuss Real's disappointing form last season. Los Blancos were well off the pace in both La Liga and the Champions League, and that level of inconsistency has carried over to the current campaign.

Denis Doyle/GettyImages

"Of course after a winning streak for a long time, there's a turning point. Yes, we stopped winning. But there isn't a component of the team that is tired of winning. It is just something that happened and we have to reset and restart. We have new people in our team," the centre-back added.

"We will always be a contender to winning. You are forced to win every year. We have to get rid of a bad season and we have more hunger to win and more hunger for competition. I think this will be a good year and we have to do things right from the beginning."