Gareth Bale has broken his silence on his difficult summer at Real Madrid by saying he feels stronger than ever.

Bale looked set to leave Real for a big-money move to China this summer, only for the deal to collapse at the last minute.

The 30-year-old Wales captain admitted the situation was not ideal, but dismissed it as being the most difficult time of his career by saying he recalled "not playing for a year under Harry Redknapp" at Tottenham.

Bale was out-of-sorts in those games and, asked if he felt more settled now, he replied: "I suppose so... the transfer window is closed now!

"I don't think mentally it affected me at all, but maybe not playing for four, five, six weeks coming into those games, physically, I wasn't where I wanted to be.

"It was a bit frustrating, but those games are over now and we have to forget about them and look to the future.

"Now it's a must-win – we need to win and get back on track. That's what we aim to do."