Earlier on Monday, Sky Sports published a story on their website that Real Madrid were planning on making a move for Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling.
That wasn’t that much of a shock in itself since the Spanish side are always after the best players around the world and there’s no denying the level of football the Englishman is playing at these days under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola.
No, what raised a few eyebrows was the description of the offer: £70m + Gareth Bale.
The news travelled around Europe, eventually reaching El Chiringuito in Spain, a TV show you might have heard of on our website since they themselves aren’t shy of coming up with/finding the odd grandiose story, normally reported with lots of drama and sound effects in their studio.
However, they didn’t run with it, instead deciding to go all out in trying to quash it with their own information.
Firstly, presenter Josep Pedrerol made it clear there was no such offer, with Real Madrid telling him there was ‘nothing at all’ of the sort being planned.
Then came information from one of their journalists, José Luis Sánchez, who explained Gareth Bale’s entourage ‘categorically denied’ Real Madrid’s offer for Raheem Sterling, but did reveal the Welshman intends on ‘leaving’ the La Liga club, just like he did in the summer before a move to China was cancelled in its latter stages.
Make of all this what you will, but considering the importance of the former Liverpool starlet in Pep Guardiola’s plans, you would think his future is at the Etihad and nowhere near Madrid for the time being.
