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

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.