Gareth Bale close to agreeing move to Jiangsu Suning worth more than £1m a week
Gareth Bale is close to sealing a stunning move from Real Madrid to Chinese club Jiangsu Suning on a contract worth over £1 million-a-week. The Wales international is in the final stages of negotiations and Jiangsu are now confident of completing a deal for the 30-year-old.
Should it go through, then Bale will most likely more than double his £600,000-a-week Real wages and will comfortably be the biggest star to ever move to the Chinese Super League. Beijing Guoan had also made inquiries about Bale, but it is Jiangsu who appear to have won the race with no European clubs able to afford the sort of money on offer in China.
Lionel Messi is the highest paid footballer in the world, earning around £1.7m-a-week at Barcelona, and Bale’s Jiangsu contract will put him close to that.
A source close to the former Tottenham Hotspur star described the Jiangsu offer as “unbelievable”. Bale was prepared to stay put at Real Madrid, despite manager Zinedine Zidane making it clear he wanted him out of the club, but, as revealed by Telegraph Sport, the former Southampton trainee was open to the prospect of moving to China.
Spanish sources claim he will sign a three-year contract within hours, although friends of the player on Friday night insisted the deal was not fully agreed. Zidane effectively ended Bale’s Real career after last Sunday’s pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich by saying: “He wasn't included in the squad because the club is working on his departure and that's why he didn't play.
“We'll have to see what happens in the coming days. We'll have to see if it goes through tomorrow, if it does then all the better. Let's hope, for everyone's sake, that it happens soon. The club is dealing with the club that he'll move to.”
That prompted Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett to brand Zidane “disrespectful” and the player reacted in the best possible way by stepping off the substitutes’ bench to score against Arsenal, but Zidane insisted the forward’s situation remained unchanged despite a long-term injury to Marco Asensio.
Zidane also continued to give Bale the silent treatment, choosing not to try to explain the situation with him personally or find out what the player wanted.
It now appears Bale’s six-year spell at Real is coming to a close and he will leave with four Champions League winners’ medals and a La Liga title.
That makes him the most successful British football export in history and more than justifies the then world record £85m fee Real paid Tottenham for him in 2013.
The Chinese transfer window is due to shut next Wednesday, but Bale is expected to be a Jiangsu player by then and his move to China is sure to see him given a hero’s welcome.
Ezequiel Lavezzi is China’s highest-paid player on £500,000-a-week at Hebei China Fortune, but Bale’s deal will dwarf the Argentine’s pay packet.
Real’s next pre-season game is against Bale’s old club Tottenham in Munich next Tuesday, but he is expected to have completed his move to China by then.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/07/26/gareth-bale-close-agreeing-move-jiangsu-suning-worth-1m-week/
