Gareth Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid from Tottenham in 2013 has been confirmed to be a world record transfer. Real Madrid have always maintained that they paid Manchester United more for the services of Cristiano Ronaldo, with the British press insisting otherwise.
According to a contract leaked by Football Leaks, a website set up to expose murky transfer dealings, especially those involving third-party ownership, Real Madrid paid a sum in excess of €100 million to Tottenham for Bale’s services, while Ronaldo cost about €96 million.
Bale’s exact fee totalled to €100,759,418, with €99,743,542 coming in installments while Madrid paid a €1,015,876 ‘solidarity’ fee. However, Real Madrid could have paid a significantly smaller sum had they paid the fee within 15 days in one payment, as the ‘spot price’ that was fixed was €91,589,842, a fee that was lesser than what Real Madrid paid for Ronaldo.
Ultimately, Real Madrid went with the installment option, with the final payment to be made on July 24, 2016. Real Madrid only paid Tottenham €24,935,895 within ten days of the transfer, dividing the total payment into four installments spread out over four years.
The last payment is a quarter of the total transfer fee, approximately €25 million, that will fill Tottenham’s coffers this year, instead of the approximately €91 million fee that was agreed.
Bale was reported to be cheaper than Ronaldo
It was this figure that Real Madrid seized upon, as the Spanish giants reported this price in the press, with the rumoured view that Florentino Perez did not want to displease Cristiano Ronaldo. Real went further and insisted on placing a clause in the contract that allowed them to report the lower sum in the press.
Paragraph 15 of the contract stated that Real Madrid’s press release will report a sum of £78,171,930, or €91,589,842 according to the conversion rate when the contract was drafted. Additionally, Spurs were also issued a gag order, which restricted them from making the fee, or any of the financial clauses involved in the contract, public.
For their part, Tottenham inserted a clause in the contract that prevented Bale from making any derogatory statements about the North London club or their employees, especially the Chairman, Daniel Levy. In addition, Tottenham also have first refusal on Bale, which means that should the Welsh winger’s rumoured transfer to Manchester United take place, Tottenham would have to eschew their option to resign him.
Bale’s contract being leaked follows a spate of footballer’s contracts being leaked, including that of Anthony Martial and Radamel Falcoa by Football Leaks.
