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The longest soap opera of this summer's football market has finally ended.
After three months of negotiations, Madrid's "Real" president Florentino Perez and "Tottenham Hotspur" president Daniel Levy finally shook hands, and G. Bale officially became a player of the Spanish club.
"Real" signed a six-year contract with the 24-year-old from Wales. The former "Tottenham Hotspur" defender will earn about 11 million euros per year in Madrid and could receive an additional 2 million euros in bonuses.
"Real TV" announced yesterday that the Madrid club paid a ransom of 91 million euros to the English club for their new player.
"100 million euros or nothing," demanded the president of "Tottenham Hotspur" continuously.
Two weeks ago, it seemed that the negotiations were doomed to fail.
"Real" offered various ways to pay the record 100 million euros. Instead of cash, the Spaniards even included young "Real" forward Alvaro Morata (17 million euros) and Portuguese defender Fabio Coentrao (15 million euros) in the deal package, but D. Levy flatly refused.
Disappointed F. Perez publicly stated that he was "ready to forget this matter for good." But the English now claim that they never seriously considered the threats of the "Real" president.
"Tottenham Hotspur" managers adhered to a tough negotiation position when they found out that "Real" and G. Bale had already signed a pre-contract that included huge fines for both sides if the deal ultimately fell through.
D. Levy knew that F. Perez would inevitably sign a check for the ransom – and that's what happened. Ultimately, the English agreed that "Real" would pay 90 million euros immediately or 100 million euros in two installments.
The Spaniards agreed to pay 100 million euros, but they wanted to pay the amount in three installments. Yesterday, "Real" publicly announced that G. Bale cost them only 91 million euros, but the English club continues to claim that they will actually receive 100 million euros for their player.
Why is the 9 million euro difference so important for "Real"?
Without a doubt, F. Perez does not want to disappoint Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been proud of being the most expensive player in the history of world football so far.
In 2009, "Real" paid a ransom of 96 million euros for the Portuguese from "Manchester United." Although G. Bale is a personal choice of the Madrid president, even F. Perez probably understands very well that paying a record ransom for a player without titles will make him look like a real fool.
