It’s not over yet, but it seems that announcing Gareth Bale has signed with Real Madrid is right around the corner, with Real Madrid and Tottenham finally agreeing on a fee that just happens to be the biggest sum of money ever paid for a footballer.
In dollars, it’s 134 million. This turns into the €100 million Real Madrid will pay, or £86 million. This means Bale leaves behind Cristiano Ronaldo, the former most expensive footballer in the world, and someone who has held that record for the last four years. He’s also going to be Bale’s new teammate at Madrid, and someone who’ll probably have to switch positions because of the Welshman’s arrival.
According to Yahoo, basing their confidence on the deal’s completion through sources connected with the negotiations. Bale will probably get a six-year deal that’s worth €11 million a season, and will likely be unveiled at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, while making his friendly debut for Real Madrid on Thursday.
Bale’s head was turned around by the interest from Real Madrid, which worked in the usual manner: Players from the club declaring how much they’d love to play with him, which leads for Bale to push for an exit, destabilize his situation with his own club and eventually lead to a sale. Not the classiest of ways, but to get the best players you usually have to play dirty.
Bale himself is probably the one coming out the worse from this whole ordeal in terms of public perception. The amount of money paid for him brands him as overrated before he touches the ball for the first time as a Real Madrid player, and comparing what he did for his team before getting signed for so much money and what Ronaldo did for Manchester United makes it seem like Real Madrid are simply throwing their money away.
But Bale’s faked injuries and his escape to a Spanish Villa while things are sorted out, instead of simply playing for Tottenham until everything is over, one way or the other (he is under contract if anyone forgot), doesn’t put him in the best of lights. However, he might not really mind all the bad press once he finally signs a contract and wears the Real Madrid jersey for the first time.