Gareth Bale has insisted that he is taking little notice of recent criticism aimed his way, amid suggestions in the Spanish press that he has fallen out with certain Real Madrid teammates.
The Wales international's Bernabeu career has stuttered somewhat over the past 12 months due to niggling injury issues, producing another below-par display from the bench in the 1-1 home draw against Levante at the weekend.
Bale, strongly linked with a return to the Premier League with Manchester United during the summer, is also said to have had a disagreement with Isco and Marco Asensio over the past few days.
Speaking to El Pais, however, the 28-year-old once again stressed that he is happy with life in the Spanish capital.
"None of it [bothers me]. It's all opinions. They have to sell newspapers in some way and have to write something," he said. "So I'm used to people writing good and bad things. I don't care too much. I hope the best is yet to come. Yes, there have been great moments and others, not so much.
"On the one hand, it's easy now to say that [last season] I should have rested more. But when you've been injured for three months and you see your teammates play you really want to come back and that's what I did.
"I had to take a lot of painkillers to play. And yes, now I think I should have taken more time to recuperate so I could have played much better and been able to do all those things that, with the ankle pain, I wasn't able to do. If I could go back, I would have taken more time to recover."
In five competitive outings for Spanish champions Madrid this season, Bale has managed two assists and one goal.
Daniel Lewis
