by Tim Stannard

Jonathan Barnett declares that a salary and lifestyle are two good reasons for Bale to stay at Real Madrid

Real Madrid fans will be absolutely ecstatic to hear that a player who has helped guide the team to four Champions League titles and a LaLiga win, as well as being the record signing, will not be leaving the club anytime soon. In fact, he may well stay forever and ever. 

That player is Gareth Bale, a footballer beloved by both supporters and his coach, Zinedine Zidane, who has caused sleepless nights for all over the past year with stories that he was set to be moving away from the Santiago Bernabeu despite having a contract running until 2022. 

However, the forward's agent, Jonathan Barnett has spoken on Thursday to turn those frowns upside down and declare that Bale could see out his career in Madrid for some very good reasons. It's sunny and he's earning a huge amount of money that few others could probably afford. Indeed, Forbes estimates that Bale earns $33 million a year in salary and bonuses.

"It’s for the clubs to decide what they want to pay for him," said Barnett to the BBC. “As I’ve always said, he’s quite happy at Madrid. He has a very nice lifestyle, I don’t see why he wouldn’t see his career out in Madrid probably."

The Sports Burst live show will be all over what is sure to be a jubilant day for Real Madrid fans. Head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page at 12PM ET / 9AM PT or our beIN XTRA channel. 

Ousmane Dembele's agent denies Barca departure

Not one but two 'agent denying transfer rumor' stories for today. 

Remember the Ousmane Dembele to Juventus theory from Wednesday?

Scratch that. It had a good run of 24-hours. It's not happening after all. 

L'Equipe has apparently spoken to the player's agent, Moussa Sissoko, who tells them that the Barcelona forward is going to stay on at the Camp Nou club but did admit that Juventus had been trying to "woo him," whatever that means. 

Diego Costa receives jail time for tax fraud charge

Diego Costa has been sent to jail for six months! Defenders of LaLiga - step down from Defcon 1 in Atletico Madrid games this season.

Well, he's been given the special jail time handed out to soccer players who are guilty of tax fraud having agreed a deal with Spanish prosecutors. 

That deal is basically no jail time at all if the sentence is six months or under. In this case Diego Costa admitted tax fraud worth $1.2 million on undeclared funds from the player's move from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea in 2014 and also image rights. The Atletico forward and joins the lofty ranks of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in having had taxing times in Spain. 

Drew Brees faces criticism for protest comments 

Drew Brees is rightly regretting a chat with Yahoo Finance after the topic of conversation moved to how the NFL should deal with players kneeling during the national anthem to protest against police brutality. 

The New Orleans quarterback declared that he could "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America." 

As LeBron James posted to social media in response, "you literally still don’t understand why Kap was kneeling on one knee??"

The basketball legend was clearly not alone in taking issue with the New Orleans Saints quarterback, with Aaron Rodgers responding by writing that we should "listen with an open heart, let's educate ourselves, and then turn word and thought into action."  

“A few years ago we were criticized for locking arms in solidarity before the game. It has NEVER been about an anthem or a flag,” wrote the Green Bay Packers quarterback. 

NBA set to confirm plans for move to Orlando 

After MLS got its economic plans in order on Wednesday with the players to pave the way for a tournament in Orlando, Florida, the NBA are set to follow suit on Thursday. 

A board meeting is expected to confirm plans to move 22 teams who are in playoff contention to the Walt Disney World Resort at the end of July for a series of regular season games and then the playoffs themselves. 

ESPN reports that the coaches and players will have to remain at the resort, but will be allowed to play golf, eat at outdoor restaurants but social distancing must be maintained.