Gareth Bale must put his agent's opinion to one side and make a decision over his future by himself, according to former Real Madrid manager John Toshack.
Bale is coming to the end of a season-long loan at Tottenham Hotspur and is set to return to the Spanish capital for the final year of his Los Blancos contract.
But the Welshman's future at his parent club is uncertain, with Zinedine Zidane keen to offload him permanently to bolster his transfer war chest.
As such, Bale is set for crunch talks with Santiago Bernabeu chiefs this summer and Toshack has advised his compatriot to pursue his own goals, rather than those of agent Jonathan Barnett.
"Often, it is not the player who is being controversial," Toshack told Goal of Bale's situation.
"You think that they represent footballers' interests, but those of us in the world of football know that they often do more harm than good to their players.
"When a footballer used to tell me that their agent had said whatever, I always told them: 'I don't want to know what your agent said. I want to know what you think. I want to talk to you. No agents'.
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"When a player reaches a certain age and only has one year of contract left, there are players who start to make noises. I would tell Bale: 'Ignore your agent and make your mind up yourself'."
Toshack also acknowledged that Bale's situation at Real Madrid is a "complicated" one on account of his enormous £600,000-per-week wages and his fractious relationship with Zidane.
The former Cardiff, Liverpool and Swansea striker added: "If you have a contract, you fulfil that contract. But I understand that it is a complicated situation.
"I always tried to talk to my players. I didn't care about what the president, or a director said, no.
"You have to speak to the player. But that has changed a lot. Now coaches talk very little."
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