WHY BALE OPTED FOR AN AMERICAN DREAM
WALES talisman Gareth Bale has confirmed he is set to join Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC when his contract with Real Madrid expires.
The five-time Champions League winner is soon to be a free agent and has been looking for a new club ahead of playing for Wales at the World Cup in Qatar, which starts in November.
Bale, 32, had been linked with a move to hometown club Cardiff City following the end of a nine-year stay at the Bernabeu, but will now continue his career with a switch to the United States.
The Wales captain confirmed his move to LAFC, currently top of Major League Soccer’s Western Conference, via his official Twitter account.
Bale wrote: “See you soon, Los Angeles,” with a video of him in a club shirt and cap.
The Welsh forward is thought to have agreed an initial one-year deal, which includes the option of an 18-month contract extension and will see him join former Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini as part of the LAFC squad.
Bale and Chiellini should complete their moves to MLS when the competition’s ‘Secondary Transfer Window’ opens on July 7, so would be cleared to make a debut against LA Galaxy.
Last week, Bale had excited Cardiff fans by visiting the Sky Bet Championship club’s Vale of Glamorgan base on their first day of pre-season training.
The Wales captain had fuelled speculation he might prefer being closer to home following comments that the standard of football he played before the World Cup should not prove a decisive factor in any move.
It is understood Bale – reportedly having earned around £600,000 per week at Real Madrid – had several options on the table, with former club Tottenham and big-spending Newcastle also suggested as potential destinations.
Speaking while on recent international duty with Wales, Bale said: “I don’t really know if the standard makes too much of a difference. A football game is a football game.
“I feel like I’ll never really lose my quality on the ball.”
Here we look at why he has chosen Major League Soccer rather than the Championship.
What made Bale, who has spent eight of the last nine years in Madrid, choose America over his homeland?
Los Angeles has a winter average of six hours of sunshine a day and a temperature of 20 degrees. Perfect golfing weather. Cardiff’s average is eight degrees and three hours.
But surely it cannot have come down to the climate?
Well, no. While a return to his homeland was the romantic option it did not seem particularly practical.
Yes, Cardiff share a training facility with the Football Association of Wales but that is where the convenience ends.
Bale played seven club matches last season, due to fitness and selection issues, and the prospect of him facing a 46-game Championship campaign through the depths of winter – a month of the Qatar World Cup aside – seems fanciful.
The MLS season is 34 matches, arguably at a lower intensity and frequency.
Why does Los Angeles FC make sense then?
Bale will join halfway through a season which ends in October, more than a month before the World Cup.
As a result the forward, 33 next month, will have much lower expectations on him than had he rocked up at Cardiff.
And due to the adjustment required with a new team, Bale should have chance to ease himself in.
Having a short break immediately before the World Cup, rather than playing right up to nine days before the tournament starts, should also benefit the player and Wales in terms of recovery.
But can he be competitive?
Bale will arrive at a club who are top of the Western Conference and with nine wins and just three defeats LAFC currently have the best record of any team in the MLS.
How he will fit into an already successful team remains to be seen, but there is not likely to be an easy ride for the Welshman if he wants genuinely useful playing time.
But there is an opportunity for him as the team’s leading scorer Carlos
Vela has just six in 14 matches and their top assist providers – Vela, Jose Cifuentes and Diego Palacios – all have only three apiece.