Real Madrid’s Paul Clement has backed Gareth Bale to hit it off with Cristiano Ronaldo and reflected on how he may help the Welshman settle in Spain.
Bale debuted for Los Blancos this weekend in their 2-2 draw away to Villarreal, starting alongside Ronaldo and with both managing to find the net.
“There'll be no issue between those two, none at all,” Clement told The Guardian this weekend.
“Good players like to work with good players. They'll help each other to achieve things for this club, I'm sure, and if they keep scoring, everyone will be happy.
“He seemed to grow when that went in. I'm sure it was quite a relief. The transfer was a long saga and ate into his pre-season and I'm sure he's glad to get that game out of the way.
“This is not easy for him but he's got a lot of support here. One of the first things I noticed when I came to Real Madrid is how different it is to Paris Saint-Germain.
“There we were in the early stages of restructuring, while here everything's so well established – the club has become used to foreign Coaches and foreign players over many, many years.
“Everything’s in place to give them that support and make that transition for Gareth very easy.”
Englishman Clement has also joined Madrid this summer, following Carlo Ancelotti as assistant Coach over from Paris Saint-Germain.
In the French capital he worked with compatriot David Beckham and has suggested a similar relationship with Madrid’s Welshman may emerge.
“I've helped him with some of the communication, at training over set-plays and tactical organisation, things he might not understand straight away because all those drills are done in Spanish.
“If he needs anything then I'm here. It's a similar scenario to David – we had a really good relationship, mostly because we were two Englishmen in Paris, and he could always lean on me if he needed to.
“He did, at times, and having someone else around who spoke the same language helped him settle in France. It's an outlet sometimes, a bit of relief when you're still trying to get to grips with the language.
“Gareth and I can develop the same kind of professional relationship here and help each other. I'd been in France a while by the time David arrived but I know how Carlo works and, if I can pass on anything to Gareth to make him feel more at home, then great.
“He's got a good friend in Luka Modric, who played with him at Spurs and is almost acting as his interpreter at the minute.
“That helps. And Carlo speaks good English, too. But Gareth seems relaxed already in the dressing room. This is a good bunch of guys who have been very welcoming to us all.”
