Bell the 'Bale' - No fee too big for Madrid

What makes the complex nature of a human brain even more complicated is its never-satiable desire for ‘gossip’. Football fans are no exception; they are a confirmed subset of the above. What the spring season is to a poet, the transfer season is to a football fan; both offer tremendous potential to use your neocortex and get imaginative.

Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale’s speculative exit from White Hart Lane, and his supposed move to Real Madrid, has caught the imagination of Madridistas worldwide. Not since Cristiano Ronaldo made his big money move from the English shores to the Spanish capital have the Los Blancos’ fans been so excited about any prospective transfer. And given Gareth Bale’s rather sumptuous last season, and his exponentially growing reputation worldwide, you can’t blame the fans for being this excited. The prospect of having Cristiano Ronaldo and Bale in the same team is as orgasmic to the fans as it is scary for the opponents. There aren’t many who would dispute the fact that Bale is perhaps the best old-fashioned winger in the world at the moment; the perfect reply to Barcelona’s Neymar scalp, giving a clear signal of their intentions.

What really makes Gareth Bale as precious as he is made out to be? Bale is almost like an American football player, who drives past defenders like a mad bull before unleashing a shot which more often than not finds the back of the net. With the PFA Footballer of the Year and the Young Player of the Year awards to his name, there is little doubt as to how good a player he is; his potential to become one of the world’s best is obvious. But the question that still remains is to what extent Daniel Levy can push Florentino Perez before he finally gives up on his most prized asset. It is evident how strongly Madrid want him but the delay in the move can only be translated into two possibilities: Spurs want to keep him and contest for a Champions League berth next season, or Levy is just playing hard ball so as to make a fortune out of this.

In today’s inflated transfer market, and with all the oil money seeping into the football clubs, it is very difficult to find reason behind the price tag of a player. With the likes of AS Monaco flexing their financial muscles, finding money’s worth becomes all the more difficult for teams with tight purses. Real Madrid may not possess an infinite transfer kitty, but they do have the power to meet Tottenham’s valuation of Bale, however bizarre that might be. Levy will hold his ground and stretch it as long as he possibly can, testing Real’s resolve and desperation to sign him before he finally gives in. One thing going for Real is Bale’s willingness to play for them rather than earn a few more millions at a mediocre Ligue 1.

Despite Andre Villas Boas holding out ‘Not for Sale’ placards outside White Hart Lane, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who has the final say in transfer matters – Florentino Perez, a politician and a businessman, who has effectively used his pro ‘Galacticos’ approach every time he has contested the presidential elections at the club. Be it Luis Figo back in 2000 or Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2009, he has always delivered his promises to the club and its fans. And to think Perez would fail or give up on signing Bale after having already made remarks to the tune of calling him ‘born to play for Madrid’ is extremely naïve. He has not been shy of resorting to what many might term as ‘unethical’ tactics during the Ronaldo saga or when Luka Modric signed for the Los Blancos, and he would once again willingly do the same to land Bale at the Bernabeu.

As I write, reports are emanating from UK that Real Madrid are readying a £85m offer for Bale. However ridiculous this may seem, Bale is worth every single penny they are willing to spend. The critics will always have their say; they would cite Neymar or Falcao’s price, thereby conveniently claiming that Madrid are paying over the odds to secure his signature. But Gareth Bale, despite having no FIFA World Player of the Year or other individual achievements to brag about, has come closest to the likes of Ronaldo and Messi.

He is only 23 years old but Bale has already proved his worth, being a consistent performer for the North Londoners over the last three seasons, twice being voted PFA player of the year and once making it to the UEFA team of the year. Although the 2012-13 season was his best in terms of the number of goals that he scored, the way he has graduated into the fantastic player he is over the last few seasons is down to the fact that Tottenham have managed to cling onto and build the team around him. And now that he has eventually grown into the player that everyone expected him to ever since he joined them as a seventeen year old, Tottenham will reap the benefits of it. Selling Bale seems to be their best bet in moving forward too. A sum that big can help Spurs completely revamp the squad and bring in quality players in almost every department there is in a football team.

Although Perez’s claims to regain most of the transfer money through shirt sales seem a bit far fetched given Bale is hardly the footballing poster boy that Ronaldo was back in 2009, the impact that he can have at improving the overall Madrid squad is beyond question. Given the likely exits of Gonzalo Higuain and Angel di Maria and signing of a new striker, the Real Madrid starting eleven may well resemble this.

Likely formation

That winger duo of Ronaldo and Bale would be inarguably the best in the world, closely followed by Robben and Ribery. There is not a single player in the world right now who can single-handedly enhance the standards and competitiveness of a side better than Gareth Bale. There is hardly any full back in the world who would confidently stand up to the Welshman; neither can you easily shove him off the ball nor can you match him for pace. Just when you think showing him onto his supposedly weaker foot was a nice trick, he wraps his right foot around the ball and finds the net. You try to stop him from cutting inside, he happily obliges and drills in a cross that would put any defense in the world under pressure.

There are no shortcut remedies to deal with Bale, at least not when he is playing well. Real Madrid are fully aware of this and no matter however big the sum they eventually end up paying, you know they would never have paid enough.