Gareth Bale has revealed that Manchester United came in with a higher offer for him than Real Madrid while he was at Tottenham, but said his heart was set on a move to the LaLiga giants.
The former Wales international traded White Hart Lane for the Bernabéu in 2013 for a fee of £85.3 million ($113.86m).
It was a transfer that was sealed on the back of a protracted saga that dragged through the summer of 2013, and Bale spoke of how United were the only other team to put in an offer for him.
“I spoke with David Moyes, but my heart was set on Madrid anyway,” Bale said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“And I had something in place with Daniel Levy, more of a gentleman’s agreement just to be like … Because he didn’t want to sell me to a rival also … ‘We don’t want to strengthen another team.’
“So if a team did come in from Spain, Italy, wherever, Germany, wherever it may be that, I could potentially go because if we didn’t qualify for Champions League, which we didn’t, I was then able to go there. So we had that gentleman’s agreement even though he made it very tough.
“I think I chose the right one [based on the] last 12 years,” he added.
“I didn’t go down the wages route with United. I didn’t get that far. They offered more money to buy me, and a player [too], but it didn’t really get any legs to be honest no.”
Bale went on to lift a staggering five Champions League titles and three LaLigas in his nine-year stint there, scoring 106 goals in 258 appearances.
He returned to Spurs on loan for the 2020-21 season before sealing his permanent exit from Madrid in 2022. While his second spell in north London wasn’t a success, he maintains a strong connection with the club and fanbase.
He was a pitchside as a broadcaster for their Europa League final triumph last year, and was pictured celebrating their first trophy in 17 years.
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Spurs have failed to build on that success and currently face the prospect of relegation from the Premier League. And Bale puts their struggles down to their inability to compete with other clubs financially.
“Maybe they don’t pay as much … look at the wage bill, it’s lower and I think there’s a reason for that,” he said.
“You can attract good players. And I always say now, you buy a 50 million pound player, it’s not what it used to be. You have to be spending 80, 90, 100 now just to get a good player. So maybe it’s the money and the wages, you’re not attracting that bigger player who can do a job here and now.
“And also they always seem to buy young and hoping they’re going to grow into something bigger, which has worked in the past, for example, with me and a few other players.
“But they’re an established club now. They have the stadium, they have the training ground, they have the fan base. It’s like they need to be buying bigger players, maybe paying a bit more.”
