Football: Gareth Bale Transfer
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
Gareth Bale, the 31-year old Welsh national team captain and winger, has signed a one-year transfer loan from Real Madrid to his former club, Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs), which he left in 2013, after having been side-lined by the Spanish club, following what has been described as a “rocky” relationship with the Real Madrid manager, Zinedine Zidane, and a general dislike by the fans.
It is reported that he will receive an eye-watering salary of £600,000 per week, forty per cent of which, it is believed, will be paid by the Spanish club.
It is expected that he will make the transfer to Spurs permanent at the end of the loan period, which, according to his agent, would be a “simple formality” but, no doubt, also an expensive one.
He will wear the number 9 shirt, which he said that he was “so happy” to wear again.
This transfer, once again, raises the question whether a footballer, however talented, merits such a salary, which some observers, including the author of this Post, have described as “obscene.”
It is also reported that Bale is unhappy by, what he claims, to be a shortest of mansions where he might wish to live!
This transfer deal comes at a sensitive time when sport, in general, including some football clubs, are losing significant amounts of money and may go out of existence, due to the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is threatening a second wave in the UK and, perhaps, a second national ‘lockdown’.
‘C’est la vie’ some, however, would argue!
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
