Spurs sign Bale on season loan for ‘bargain’ £9m
Gareth Bale flew into London yesterday to complete his emotional return to Tottenham Hotspur on a “bargain” £9 million season-long loan from Real Madrid.
The Daily Telegraph understands that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has negotiated a deal that will see Spurs pay £220,000 of his £600,000-a-week Real wages.
The initial deal, which Tottenham will have first option to extend, runs to the end of June 2021, meaning Bale will cost Spurs just under £9 million in wages with Real still paying him £380,000 a week.
While Spurs have refused to comment on the figures involved, Levy is being credited with negotiating a relative bargain for a player of Bale’s quality.
Real had initially wanted Tottenham to cover around 75 per cent of Bale’s wages, which would have cost them £18 million in total – double what Levy is believed to have negotiated the final deal down to.
One source said: “Signing Gareth Bale for £9 million on a season-long loan is a bargain, particularly as Real Madrid wanted Tottenham to pay double that figure. It’s virtually
impossible to get a player of that quality for such a low price.”
Bale was joined on his private flight from Madrid to Luton airport yesterday by left-back Sergio Reguilon, who has moved to Tottenham for around £25 million.
But it is the return of the Welshman that generated feverish excitement among Tottenham’s fans, a group of whom gathered outside the gates of the club’s Enfield training base to see him driven in. Former manager Mauricio Pochettino claimed the move would have never happened in his 5½ years at Tottenham, but the Argentine backed the 31-year-old to succeed in his second spell at the club he previously spent six seasons with.
“Bale is a fantastic footballer,” said Pochettino. “He is at an age where he still has strength, experience and maturity. He has been seven or eight years at Real Madrid: he has been decisive, he has won four European Cups and he has scored in important matches.
“The times we have met, he has always been very affectionate with me.
“There was never the possibility [to sign him at Spurs], first of all because everything was focused on finishing the stadium.
“When we got to the Champions League final, we hadn’t signed a player for a year and a half. After that, I left.
“There was never the possibility, but it’s clear that a player like Bale would have brought a lot to the team.
“Jesus Perez [Pochettino’s assistant] said to me: ‘ Imagine if Bale signs for Tottenham. We went to Southampton, Bale had left. We signed for Tottenham, Bale had left. Now look, he’s coming back to Tottenham…’”