Why Is Bale So Desperate To Join Madrid?

If the endless stream of rumours are true, then we might just be beginning to believe that Tottenham Hotspur’s 24-year old golden boy Gareth Bale is about to join Real Madrid.
Last week, Spanish sports paper Marca revealed that Bale had already informed Spurs chairman Daniel Levy of his wish to join Madrid, the club he supported as a boy. They reported that negotiations involving his agent, Jonathan Barnett, and Madrid president Florentino Pérez about a six-year deal had begun in June.
Bale is extremely hot property right now after two and a half golden seasons in the Premiership after former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp pulled the masterstroke of converting Bale from left-back to roving winger/attacking midfielder role. By 2011-12 the young Welshman’s enormous talent had established him as one of the biggest stars in the English Premiership and he gained wider recognition after some sterling performances for Spurs in European competition.
It has been widely reported for months that Bale’s dazzling performances for Tottenham had put him firmly at the top of Real Madrid president Pérez’s transfer shopping list.
Recently, the football press has been busy reporting Spurs chairman Levy’s tough stance and refusal to sell his prize asset after rejecting an initial £81m by Madrid last week. According to reports yesterday, Bale has become infuriated by Levy’s refusal to discuss Real’s improved £86.3m (€100m) offer.
In the meantime, the proposed transfer fee for Bale keeps rising. The Sun newspaper reports a staggering £95m transfer package involving £51m cash plus Real players Ángel Di María and Fabio Coentrao, whose joint value is put at £44m.
What everyone is asking is how long it will take for Tottenham’s notoriously tough negotiator chairman Levy to accept that if Bale has his heart set on playing at the Santiago Bernabeu next season, trying to keep him at White Hart Lane won’t do anything but harm the player and the club.
Although in many ways Levy is doing what every Spurs supporter wants him to do – keep Bale at the club. And Levy is perfectly entitled to take a moral stance with a player who still has three years left on his contract with the club. However, despite this, he may be wiser to utilise the Bale transfer money to buy players to help manager Andre Villas-Boas get the squad in shape for the Premiership season, now just three weeks away.
Madrid’s willingness to break the world transfer record to land the Welsh wizard makes it hard to believe that Levy will not eventually grant Bale his wish.
Why are Real Madrid preparing to break the world record transfer fee to sign Bale? Well, firstly, he is a unique player with a great all-round game. His versatility allows him to excel in many different positions. And let’s not forget that Bale’s defensive abilities equal his brillant attacking prowess. What marks him out especially in the modern game is his relatively rare combination of sublime technical skills and electrifying pace.
Possessing such great pace, Bale is capable of breathtaking, incisive runs, beating players for fun and leaving defenders in his wake. He can also execute a pass, shot or cross whilst moving at top speed and with clinical precision, which often causes panic in even the most water-tight defences. Another great weapon is his dead ball expertise. Even as a 16-year old at Southampton he was their first-choice free-kick taker. And his goalscoring instinct has now sharpened dramatically as evidenced by his 26 goals in all competitions last season, 14 more than the previous season.
Little wonder then that Bale began to accumulate so many individual awards, including PFA Player and Young Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year. How long before Bale reaches the lofty heights of world stardom and is mentioned in the same breath Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta and Xavi?
Bale has undoubtedly enjoyed several successful seasons at White Hart Lane, including several exciting Champions League and Europa League adventures. Would he have been so adamant about moving to Madrid if Tottenham had managed to get a Champions League place again this year? Who knows?
Well, Bale is a thoughtful young man and a consummate professional footballer. He has worked hard to develop his unique skills and abilities and understandably wants to display them at the highest level.
So why is Bale reported to be so desperate to sign for Madrid? The answer is that he sees joining Real, one of the biggest clubs in the world, as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he does not want to miss. In his mind, he longs to play alongside ‘galacticos’ like Cristiano Ronaldo and to have the real prospect of winning trophies. Bale clearly doesn’t want to pass up this golden opportunity to shine on one of greatest stages in European and world football.
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