Reports indicate Gareth Bale is very close to leaving Real Madrid for an eye-watering contract in China. At the risk of rehashing the old ‘where did it all go wrong?’ story about George Best, I still can’t help but see it as a waste. He’ll already be amongst the richest sportspeople and presumably more than set for life. Just a shame that he’s apparently decided to go to China at his age. He’s undoubtedly still young enough to perform at the very highest level in one of the top five leagues in Europe. Even the MLS would surely be a better option.
Bale-ing out?
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Completely agree Dougie. It really annoys me when footballers (it’s mainly footballers) do this. He surely can’t need the money and as you say he’s young enough still to play at the highest level.
He’s 30 years old and still capable of doing a job in the top European Leagues and Internationally. Sure, everyone wants an easy life, but this feels like early retirement when he doesn’t have to.
I do wonder if the move is driven by Bale or his agent/advisers. The money and the commercial opportunities were probably too great to be ignored, and no big club could match it.
I have an old school belief that ex- players (if they want to) should share their experience with younger players and help develop them, not retire to the riches of an uncompetitive league.
I was surprised too. Has there been any interest from the Premier League?
Man Ure – possibly as part of a deal for Paul Pogba. And a rather fanciful rumour of a return to Spurs.
Yes it seems inconceivable that a deal couldn’t have been structured by one of Europe’s big guns. Hopefully this is brinksmanship on the part of his agent to force someone to make a move but it seems increasingly likely he will go.
No European clubs were able or prepared to match his current Madrid deal, supposedly 600 grand a week. So his options were to sit tight and see out the remaining 3 years on his contract but not play much, move to another European or PL club or the MLS on less money or go to China on a 3 year deal at a million quid a week plus supposedly a 20 mil signing on fee!
I’m not sure how long the Chinese league lasts, (6 months?) but presumably the rest of the year he could continue living in Madrid where he and his family are apparently happily settled – he could even afford a private jet to commute each week if he wanted to on that money!
Bear in mind also his injury record isn’t great, and although he’s still only 30 it’s probably going to get worse not better, so maybe a more lucrative move to a less physically demanding league appeals.
A high profile marquee signing like this will also give the Chinese league a huge publicity boost and no doubt create many commercial opportunities
Yep, it’s the “irresistible force/immovable object” of cliché brought to life. Bale’s wish to cling on to his wages and injury record rule him out in Europe, while the irresistible force is Zidane’s certainty that he is surplus to requirements.
‘Course he doesn’t have to maintain his insane wages and, even allowing for his four Champions League medals and, I dunno, probably coming fifth with Spurs, the finite nature of a footballer’s career and the consequent imperative to make the most of every minute might come back to bite him on the ass at some point in the future when he is swimming, Scrooge McDuck style, in an ocean of cash.
(Aside: I was a kid I dreamed of being a professional footballer. I never dreamed about being rich. Are kids so different today?)
Fuck the money if it means you have got to live in China. I have travelled to many countries in the World around 43 at last count. China is the only country I would not go back to. Dreadful except for natural sights such as Great Wall and Guilin. Awful food and rude people. He could take a 50 percent pay cut and still be set for life. It smacks of greed if you ask me and shows he has little interest in making a bigger name for himself.
What I dont understand is why it has gone so spectacularly wrong for him in Spain to point when he was getting booed off the field. He started so well out there.
Not played in his best position, didn’t learn Spanish, injuries …
And I like Chinese food, me.
@dai I love Chinese food too but not the stuff I had there. Hing zkong much better. I was looking forward to Sezhuan hotpot- reality was it was vile unidintifiable muscles and gristle with no taste. Looked like snot too.
Never been to China but had absolutely amazing food in Taïwan.
… but they eat chicken feet there!
It seems like they’ll eat pretty much anything that stays still long enough.
Steve, this article in today’s Guardian should help answer your question.
Gareth Bale could be a Real Madrid cult hero so why has it gone so wrong?
If you’re a top level footballer you surely want to compete against the best and win meaningful competitions. I don’t see how China can possibly fulfill that ambition.
Bale has probably earned enough money that he could probably afford to play for free for the rest of his career and still be set for life (not that I’m suggesting he should).
I’d have thought he could take a pay cut and still be happy playing at one of Europe’s top clubs.
How much money do you need? Maybe it’s just that once you’re into a six-figure per week wage territory it’s all about comparing dick-size.
If i was him i’d be staying at Real Madrid, decent money, decent food and at some point Zidane would be forced to play him.
Zidane is an arsehole anyway so cant blame Bale for going somewhere else but not China ffs.
Just looked at his record at Real Madrid – 78 goals in 155 games is a bloody good strike rate. I think this is more about a personality clash and given Zidanes rubbish results last year I know which one I would get rid of.
I would imagine that his version of China will be very different from one that any of us could experience.
We might as well try and see the world through the eyes of a lion as imagine what it’s like to have that lifestyle.
He’s never struck me as egotistical in the same way as Ronaldo, which is why he’ll never be as good. Probably. I expect that’s what allows him to consider this move rather than push himself to succeed at a top European club.
It must be a nice dilemma to have.
Good luck to him
He is a nice guy, my cousin met him during Euros 2016, he was happy to pose for pictures and suchlike.
Latest on this is that apparently Real Madrid have cancelled the transfer, as the Chinese club are unwilling to pay a transfer fee. Poor Gareth will have to stay in Spain, warm the bench and play golf for his half million a week. My heart bleeds for him…
I’m not even sure who the winner is in this situation. Zidane clearly doesn’t want him at the club – I can only assume Bale turned up for training one day wearing an Italian national shirt with “23 Materazzi” emblazoned on the back.
Bale seems to be one of those footballers who plays his best football when he is the team’s star performer. He was undoubtedly the Tottenham’s best player, and he still is for Wales. Maybe that’s what he was hoping to achieve in China?
He’s welcome at Norwich!
I am sure we could extend to £150k per week over 2 years with the TV money.
His agent sounds like a real piece of work. Bale always seemed like quite a simple soul rather than the mercenary he is appearing to be now, so I suspect others with a stake in his career are having an influence. It is out of our comprehension to be paid these amounts of money – logic says that if I were an outrageously talented footballer then I would want to play in a good team in a top league and pick up a decent wage as I really can manage on £200k a week, but it seems he would rather go elsewhere. The internal politics of Real Madrid are also beyond rational thought….
Indeed. A bystander asks why he doesn’t move to the Premier league and get regular games in front of a local ish crowd?
Perhaps he’s just desperate to get away from Real and his agent is exploiting that.
With my very limited knowledge of football, I wonder if it’s the case that a top-flight footballer can’t do anything within the game these days without an agent as his intermediary. Also strikes me that the agents are all sharks, out for the biggest possible payout for themselves first and foremost and that players can’t have any kind of business dealings with the clubs or anyone else without an agent.
Just thought an update on this might be appropriate as the tide definitely seems to have turned in the bold Gareth’s favour, with the peg holding Zidane’s jaiket looking increasingly shoogly, recent red card notwithstanding…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49545706