Patrick Rees
Manchester United have been trying to lure Gareth Bale to the Theatre of Dreams for a long time and so far, they have faced a couple rejections. The Devils firstly tried to bring him in when the Welsh superstar was serving the South Coast club Southampton, but he then joined Tottenham Hotspurs.
With Lilly-Whites, the 27-year-old established himself as a quality personnel in the sport and United came knocking on the door for the second time and were ready to pay a hefty amount to acquire the signature, but faced another rejection and eventually, he joined Real Madrid for a then world-record fee of £85million.
Now, according to many reports, the Welsh international is close to signing a new bumper deal with the Galacticos, but besides that, Manchester United Evening News has reported that United have contacted Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett, who also represents Luke Shaw and Timothy Fosu-Mensah, and are prepared to offer him £16.7million-a-year after tax. Bale, who has won two Champions League titles with the Los Blancos has been a real attacking force for the team and for the manager, Zinedine Zidane, as well.
Manchester United recently broke the record by signing Paul Pogba from Juventus on a fee of £89m, but if the reports are to be believed, then we might witness another record by the same club, as Jose Mourinho has identified this Welsh international as his number one target.
Bale may have set his sights on extending his stay with the Bernabeu outfit, but
when Real president Florentino Perez was asked if he was set to make Bale the club’s second highest-paid player behind Cristiano Ronaldo, he apparently said: “Not on €17m (£14.2m) net per year, much less.”
And this failure to meet Bale’s demands could open the door for United to swoop.
