Gareth Bale could be handed an unlikely lifeline from his Real Madrid nightmare amid reports Juventus have made Zinedine Zidane their top target to be their new manager.
The Italian champions dispensed with Maurizio Sarri after just one season in the wake of their Champions League exit to Lyon on Friday night.
And according to reports, Juventus supremo Andrea Agnelli has already targeted Real Madrid manager Zidane, who spent five years with the Turin club as a player, to succeed him.
MailOnline report talks with Real president Florentino Perez over Zidane are imminent.
And were Zidane, whose own side were knocked out of the Champions League on Friday, to depart the Spanish giants, it would completely change everything for ostracised Wales star Bale.
The relationship between Bale and Zidane has soured significantly, with Bale playing just 100 minutes of football for the club since lockdown - with the latest indignity being left out of the squad completely for Real's Champions League defeat to Manchester City yesterday.
Zidane then accused Bale of not wanting to play, refusing to explain the detail on context of the decision.
Were Zidane to leave, Bale could well be brought back in from the cold by a new boss - with the Wales star determined to see out his £60m contract until 2022.
The report adds that Zidane has long been keen on the Juventus job, with Friday night's exit from the Champions League potentially greasing the wheels of an exit from the Spanish club.
Agnelli will reportedly do anything to bring Zidane back to Juventus, with star player Cristiano Ronaldo likely to be keen to work under Zidane again following their success together at Real Madrid.
Whether Zidane ends up in Turin remains to be seen, with former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino reportedly the club's second choice.
But just because Zidane was gone, it wouldn't guarantee Bale's fortunes would change.
There is a chance his recent behaviour may have alienated the Madrid hierarchy, as well as their fanbase and local media, as much as it did Zidane.
Last month, he was pictured laughing almost in disbelief after Zidane failed to use him in one match against Alaves and even pretended to take a snooze on the bench, using his coronavirus face covering as a makeshift sleeping mask.
In the next match, he once again sparked a big reaction with his antics on the Real Madrid bench.
The Wales star was an unused substitute in the win over Granada but ensured he hit the headlines by making what appeared to be a 'binoculars' gesture for the cameras.
And the last time Zidane left the club, along with Ronaldo, Bale struggled to live up to the burden of being the main man in the Spanish capital - with the French manager returning less than a year later after the club struggled without him.
