Real Madrid's 10 best signings of the decade (2010-2019)

#5 Gareth Bale (2013)

Gareth Bale scored one of the best Champions League goals of all time for Real in the 2018 final

Real Madrid paid a world-record fee of £85m to bring Gareth Bale to the Bernabeu from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2013, and while he’s fallen out of favour with fans of Los Blancos over the last year or so, it’d be hard to claim he hasn’t been a massive success in Spain, as the flying Welshman has won multiple trophies and been involved in countless memorable moments.

In his early days at the club, it felt like Bale was almost living in the shadow of the great Cristiano Ronaldo, but it didn’t take him too long to prove his own worth; after overcoming some injuries, the goals began to flow, and in the 2014 Copa del Rey final he produced a moment of true magic against Real’s bitter rivals Barcelona – sprinting from the halfway line, including going off the pitch for a moment, to score the winning goal in the match.

Weeks later Bale scored a goal in the famous La Decima Champions League final win over Atletico Madrid, and he’s since gone onto win 3 more Champions League trophies, including in 2017-18 – a final that saw him score one of the all-time great Champions League goals against Liverpool, a stunning overhead volley.

As of the time of writing, the Welshman has scored a phenomenal 104 goals in 245 games for Los Blancos – a great record by anyone’s standards.