Current free agent and Wales captain Gareth Bale has offered Cardiff City fans hope by refusing to rule out playing in the Championship.
The Welshman left Spanish giants Real Madrid after eight years at the club. In a trophy-laden stint, Bale was part of the Real squads that won five Champions Leagues. A vital part in two of those triumphs, he also scored in the 2014 and 2018 finals. Bale leaves Real with 258 appearances to his name, in which he scored 106 goals.
However, it was not all positive out in Spain. Injuries plagued the Welshman’s last few seasons, while his relationship with Los Blancos fans turned sour.
As a player with such an elite reputation, Bale has several potential suitors now that his Madrid contract has expired. Recently, Getafe claimed that the winger asked to play there – a suggestion Bale laughed off.
Amongst numerous Premier League teams circling around, one of the more intriguing sides interested in Gareth Bale is Cardiff City from the Championship. But Bale will need to reduce his wage before moving to any team that may want him.
A wage cut needed
According to the Daily Mail, the Wales captain was on £554,000 a week at Real Madrid. This totals to an annual wage of over £28 million. At the time, Bale was the third-highest-earning footballer in the world.
Considering that he made just five La Liga appearances last season, Bale received an eye-watering wage for very little output.
In stark contrast, Cardiff City’s entire squad is on less than this combined. The Championship side’s annual wage bill comes in at just over £12 million per year, per Salary Sport. This is staggeringly less than half of what Madrid were paying Gareth Bale.
Their highest-paid player was goalkeeper Alex Smithies, who was on a reported £33,000 per week salary. The shot-stopper is leaving the club on a free transfer this summer as Cardiff cannot afford his wage demands.
Despite what would be a massive pay cut, Bale is considering the potential of playing in his home nation’s capital.
Gareth Bale keeps the Championship as an option
When asked in the build-up to Wales’s next Nations League game if he would play in the Championship, Gareth Bale gave an interesting response.
“I can’t really say,” said the Wales captain, via The Guardian. “I haven’t really thought too much about that at the moment. It’s something I need to sit down and go through, not just with my family but with the manager here [Wales coach Robert Page], the physios we use, to see what would give me the best chance of being fit come November.
“I don’t really know if the standard makes too much of a difference, to be honest,” he continued. Football games are football games. I feel like I’ll never really lose my quality on the ball, so I guess it’s a conversation we can have.”
His comments have certainly given Cardiff fans hope of signing their hometown hero. For Gareth Bale, the decision is purely based on how he can best maintain fitness to help Wales. After all, the nation is going to its first World Cup since 1958. They want to make it a memorable one.
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