Sport have thrown Chelsea into the mix once again to sign Gareth Bale from Real Madrid.
The Premier League champions have been linked with Bale sporadically by the Spanish media, with the idea of Eden Hazard going the other way a popular theme. Real Madrid would of course have to add a whole lot of cash to any move which contained Bale, this would be a long way from a straight swap.
Sport say Real Madrid are fed up with Bale, and give several reasons.
His injuries is the major issue, but it’s thought the Welshman hasn’t worked hard enough to integrate himself. Bale is said to prefer playing golf to watching football, not interested in studying rivals he may come up against.
During a match when he was recently on the bench, Bale didn’t have his football boots on, instead wearing trainers, and this is seen as a sign he wasn’t really ready to play, delaying any arrival on the pitch.
A starting price is put at €100m, which is around £90m, said to be an ‘affordable amount’ for Chelsea and other English clubs, but it seems over the top given Bale’s season so far.
Swap deals rarely happen, but if Bale was to go to Madrid and Hazard go the other way, then Chelsea may be looking at taking the former Tottenham player plus something not so far away from that €100m themselves.