This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

According to the newest reports coming from The Sun, Real Madrid are planning a swap deal with Manchester United that would see Gareth Bale go one way and Paul Pogba the other.

What's the word, then?

It seems that Real Madrid have decided - Bale needs to go and it's no longer a question of "if", but rather a question of "when".

The Sun claim that Los Blancos will try and offload the Welshman in January already but failing that, they will try again come the summer transfer window.

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Of course, Bale was close to leaving the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 2019, but he ended up staying and is playing a small role in the ongoing 2019/20 campaign for Zinedine Zidane's troops.

But the player's relationship with the club is seemingly not really ideal and separation is inevitable.

Real, however, could use Pogba's similar situation over at Old Trafford to finally seal the deal with a rather "simple" swap of superstars.

A soul for a soul

On the face of it, this deal really does sound like a win-win scenario for all parties involved.

After all, both clubs are currently dealing with superstars who are not really satisfied with their situations at their respective clubs.

Pogba, for all his obvious qualities, has not seen much of the pitch this season with only 540 minutes under his belt.

Of course, a lot of it has to do with his constant injury issues but in reality, the problems go deeper than that, which is an old story by this point in time as the Frenchman was adamant he wanted to leave last summer already.

And interestingly enough, Bale is very much in a similar position.

With only 597 minutes in the ongoing season - also filled with injuries and irregular game time - and a failed transfer project behind him, we could even go as far as saying their situations are nigh-on identical.

A simple swap could, in theory, solve both clubs' and both players' problems - the teams would replace an unhappy superstar with one willing to reignite his career while the players themselves would finally get their second chance and actually play for a club they seemingly like.

All that remains is sorting out the "details".

Let's see if something comes out of this situation in the New Year.