So now we know. Gareth Bale is the world's most expensive player.
The Welshman's move to Real Madrid, in 2013, was said to have cost the Spanish giants £78m. However, due to the payment structure, Real are set to pay a further £9m.
All told, it is expected that Los Blancos splashed £87m [€99.7m based on 2013 conversion rates] on Bale, eclipsing the £80m Real paid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
Spanish newspaper
AS claim to have a leaked document that exactly details the ins and outs of the Bale deal.
It includes the exact price Real paid for the former Tottenham man, including the up-front payment of £74. Real also waived a remaining sum that Spurs owed the club from the transfer of Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
https://twitter.com/English_AS/status/690076639917641728
It is also alleged that Real kept the exact amount of the Bale fee quiet in order to appease Ronaldo and maintain the impression that the Portuguese striker was still the world's most expensive player.
The Sunday Times journalist Jonathan Northcroft claimed that, when interviewing Bale, he was asked by the Spanish giants to keep the exact transfer fee quiet.
Northcroft told the BBC:
"Real Madrid are a club so worried about image that when I interviewed Bale it was requested to me, 'don't put in the article how much Gareth Bale cost'
"The reason for that is because it was a world record transfer fee but Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't like to see that someone else cost more than him."
Bale's camp have reacted angrily to the leaking of these documents, with his agent Jonathan Barnett demanding an apology from the Football Association to Bale, Real Madrid and Tottenham.
There are another few interesting nuggets contained in the leaked document:
- Up until June 30, 2019, Tottenham have first refusal on Bale if he is ever planning a Premier League return.
- Tottenham will get a further £10m [€13m] if Bale joins a Premier League side other than themselves.
- The official amount announced to the press, for the deal, would be £78m.
Page 2 of the leaked document is below, and you can check out the rest
here.
