Wales national football team manager Chris Coleman thinks Real Madrid talisman Gareth Bale has already repaid his world-record transfer fee. Madrid paid a whopping sum of £86million to lure Bale away to the Bernabeu from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013.
“I think if you rewind before he goes to Real Madrid and say he is going to win two Champions Leagues in three years, he has already paid the fee back that they paid for him,” Coleman said to The Mirror.
The Welshman has won the UEFA Champions League two times since he had moved to the Spanish outfit and had impressed in the Euro 2016 earlier this year.
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The Real Madrid star attacker is currently in his home city Cardiff for a World Cup Qualifier match against Austria on Thursday. Coleman believes, despite the recent dip in Real Madrid’s form, Bale will be on the top of his form for the forthcoming game.
Coleman also believes the two Champions league that Bale has won during his time in Real Madrid is the Holy Grail for the Madrid-based club, "It is all about the Champions League with Real Madrid really, that's the Holy Grail for them and he has done it twice in three years. To do that is fantastic.”
This year’s UEFA Champions League final is scheduled to be held in Cardiff City on June 3 next year and the 46-year-old manager believes it will be unbelievable for Bale to win the trophy again in his home city.
“Now I think for him to get to the final, with it being in Cardiff, and to win it a third time, would be unbelievable,” said Coleman. “To win it twice in three years is fantastic, but it has to be added incentive as it is his hometown and he is a born-and-bred Cardiff boy. With the final being here, I would imagine he will relish that,” he added.
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However, Coleman also thinks it is early for Real Madrid to think about the final, “But they have a lot of work to do, Real Madrid before they can start talking about the final.” He also recognized Real’s recent performance in the La Liga and thinks the Galacticos needs to work on their performance.
Ahead of the qualifying match against Austria later this week, Coleman wants the Wales squad to replicate the Euro 2016 form. “The whole nation is behind the team, so that means we have to produce the same performances and the same intensity when we wear the red jersey.”
“We have to be up there after five games, while all the interest in Welsh football is still there,” he further added.
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