Gareth Bale to Real Madrid - world record fee

NIMAN

Bale has definitely played and fitted in well at Madrid since his arrival.

He has gone under the radar ok, but when you play in a league with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, that's going to happen, no matter how much you cost.

Also, when I watch him play, I still think he is slightly scared of CR, and plays as support to him, like the rest of the Madrid team. If CR moves on to PSG in the summer, I think we will see a better Bale, without the presence of CR being around.

MD1990

Paully D wrote: »

To be honest I don't watch/read/listen to much on La Liga outside of the Real Madrid and Barcelona games so I could be missing it, but to me Bale's performances seem to be flying under the radar a bit.

I believe he has 54 goals and 36 assists for Real Madrid now in a little over 100 games.

What a superb player.

hasn't performed against the top clubs last few seasons. But he is starting to perform now. I get the feeling 2016 could be a great year for him.

astonaidan

MD1990 wrote: »

hasn't performed against the top clubs last few seasons. But he is starting to perform now. I get the feeling 2016 could be a great year for him.

He shredded Barca in his first year in the cup final and scored in CL final aswell, This seems similar comment about Ronaldo and Zlatan when the stats show they both do well against big teams, kinda like Messi and english teams, mostly rubbish

EuropeanSon

Looper007 wrote: »

Jesus give the lad a chance, he's only 24. He's had a very good first season in La Liga, he's also won the Premiership footballer of the year twice which shows he's the real deal. unlike Messi and Ronaldo, he was only turned into a attacking player 5 years ago after been a defender.

I tell you who won't be the real deal and that's Neymar, cause he scored a few fancy goals in a otherwise poor Brazilian league and everyone was overrating him, his lack of work rate and only scoring 15 goals in a ton of games plus his presence in the team is denting Messi's form. Just cause he's Brazilian and he scored a few fancy goals , he's overrated by many footballing fan's around the world.

This looks very funny now.

SlickRic

I was skeptical of just how good Bale was, but he is absolutely the real deal.

His stats speak volumes.

His problems are the fee, and Ronaldo and Messi's figures. If they weren't there, we'd all be fawning a lot more over the likes of himself.

I'm a big fan, as it was by no means a forehand conclusion that he'd still be there in 2016. We'll done to the lad.

Rayne Wooney

Bale is good in mortal terms but I think Madrid are screwed when Ronaldo leaves, they will have nothing close to MSN imo

Rayne Wooney

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Bale is good in mortal terms but I think Madrid are screwed when Ronaldo leaves, they will have nothing close to MSN imo

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Think he means when not compared to Messi and Ronaldo.

SantryRed

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

Bale is good in mortal terms but I think Madrid are screwed when Ronaldo leaves, they will have nothing close to MSN imo

They're basically doing it without Ronaldo this season.

Kiith

Have the fans started treating him well? Seem to remember him getting hard time from them a while ago.

MD1990

astonaidan wrote: »

He shredded Barca in his first year in the cup final and scored in CL final aswell, This seems similar comment about Ronaldo and Zlatan when the stats show they both do well against big teams, kinda like Messi and english teams, mostly rubbish

im taking about last season & half of this where he hasn't performed against top 6 sides. But he is now in great form & looks set to have a great 2016 imo. If Ronaldo leaves in the summer & I think Bale can replace him with 30-35 goals + assists. Bale right now is a better player than Ronaldo.

Dirty Dingus McGee

MD1990 wrote: »

im taking about last season & half of this where he hasn't performed against top 6 sides. But he is now in great form & looks set to have a great 2016 imo. If Ronaldo leaves in the summer & I think Bale can replace him with 30-35 goals + assists. Bale right now is a better player than Ronaldo.

I often see the argument that it would be virtually impossible to replace Ronaldo's goals but Ronaldo scores a lot of goals in hammerings and therefore probably only half the goals he scores have any real impact on Real Madrid winning or losing.It shouldn't be that difficult to find a 25-30 goal a season player with the amount of money they have.

The same could apply to Messi's goals as well.

Paully D

2 Champions League titles in 3 seasons now.

58 goals and 40 assists in 122 games.

He also comes across as a very nice guy. It's good to see things working out for him.

Paully D

Paully D wrote: »

2 Champions League titles in 3 seasons now.

58 goals and 40 assists in 122 games.

He also comes across as a very nice guy. It's good to see things working out for him.

Hope hes alright for the Euros. Taking that penalty seemed to hurt him. Looked like groin trouble.

Irish_rat

Paully D wrote: »

2 Champions League titles in 3 seasons now.

58 goals and 40 assists in 122 games.

He also comes across as a very nice guy. It's good to see things working out for him.

You could say a large chunk of the fee has been repaid.

He has improved so much this year. Technically he's not too bad now, good aerial threat and seems to be more tactically aware.

Very exciting to see what Bale does for Wales during the Euro's. Different beast altogether for them.

eagle eye

He really has improved, he seems very comfortable there now too. He is one of the best players in the world, no doubt about that and I can see him beoming a more integral part of that Real Madrid team over the next couple of years.

rob316

He has certainly stepped it up, bit injury prone still so not sure he is ideal to build a side around. Certainly impressed me in his appearances in finals, his goal against Barca in the Copa Del Rey was outstanding, and he made a far great contribution against Atletico in both CL finals.

Almost 27 now so he is approaching his prime, will be interesting to see does he kick on further and go on to be a truly world class player like Suarez, Neymar, Ronaldo and Messi.

JakeArmitage

After Messi and Ronaldo, the next tier of players are Suarez, Bale , Greizmann and Neymar. What order Id put them I don't know, what do ye reckon?Suarez is probably the best and closer to the top 2 now

eagle eye

JakeArmitage wrote: »

After Messi and Ronaldo, the next tier of players are Suarez, Bale , Greizmann and Neymar. What order Id put them I don't know, what do ye reckon?Suarez is probably the best and closer to the top 2 now

No room for Lewandowski?

JakeArmitage

eagle eye wrote: »

No room for Lewandowski?

Yea probably I forgot him, id rank the 4 I mentioned above him though

Skylinehead

And Thomas Muller....and a fit Aguero...

Bobby Baccala

And Higuain and Ibrahimovic....yous lads are useless..

Irish_rat

JakeArmitage wrote: »

After Messi and Ronaldo, the next tier of players are Suarez, Bale , Greizmann and Neymar. What order Id put them I don't know, what do ye reckon?Suarez is probably the best and closer to the top 2 now

I'd agree with that.

Ronaldo and Messi are losing grip of being numero uno. Suarez has been incredible this season and I'd have him on par with the untouchables.

Neymar and Bale then a bit back to the rest

bucketybuck

Irish_rat wrote: »

Suarez has been incredible this season and I'd have him on par with the untouchables.

Come back to us when he repeats this incredible season 5 times in a row, then he might be on a par with the untouchables.

Faugheen

Honestly think Neymar is better than Suarez.

Guy:Incognito

I can think of about 20 lads of the top of my head that are better than him in goal.

Irish_rat

bucketybuck wrote: »

Come back to us when he repeats this incredible season 5 times in a row, then he might be on a par with the untouchables.

Aren't we talking about who is currently the best? Going back 5 years ago is irrelevant in the context of the original question asked. Is there a need for this aggressive tone.

Shanotheslayer

Faugheen wrote: »

Honestly think Neymar is better than Suarez.

Think you're the only one mate

NIMAN

Neymar's a fancy dan. A spoofer.

I'd say we would see a different Bale if Ronaldo was to leave the Bernabeu this summer. He is so much in his shadow and everything has to revolve around Ronaldo I think it leaves Bale shackled a bit.

I don't think Bale will ever reach the level that Ronaldo reached in his career, but then again few will. I do think Bale is an outstanding player and will be in the worlds top 3 once Ronnie hangs his boots up.

rob316

NIMAN wrote: »

Neymar's a fancy dan. A spoofer.

I'd say we would see a different Bale if Ronaldo was to leave the Bernabeu this summer. He is so much in his shadow and everything has to revolve around Ronaldo I think it leaves Bale shackled a bit.

I don't think Bale will ever reach the level that Ronaldo reached in his career, but then again few will. I do think Bale is an outstanding player and will be in the worlds top 3 once Ronnie hangs his boots up.

Is that you Eamon?

Neymar is class

OnTheCouch

NIMAN wrote: »

Neymar's a fancy dan. A spoofer.

I'd say we would see a different Bale if Ronaldo was to leave the Bernabeu this summer. He is so much in his shadow and everything has to revolve around Ronaldo I think it leaves Bale shackled a bit.

I don't think Bale will ever reach the level that Ronaldo reached in his career, but then again few will. I do think Bale is an outstanding player and will be in the worlds top 3 once Ronnie hangs his boots up.

Neymar's had an awful 2016 to be honest. Last year he was putting in some scintillating performances and I am sure I was not the only one who believed that it was simply a matter of time before he over took Ronaldo/Messi and won the Ballon d'Or.

This year, whatever the reason, he has flopped quite considerably and Suarez and probably Bale as well are ahead of him as players at the moment.

I definitely agree with the above quote. Bale seems to be exactly the type of player that really thrives and excels when he is the main man, the responsibility of leading the team seems to push him up another level again. He reminds me of Maradona to some degree (not saying he's quite in the same class as a player, but the way the limelight and the attention seems to bring the best out of him). Witness his general performances for Wales - where he really is by far the outstanding talent and his last two seasons for Spurs.

Now Bale has been very good the second half of this season, but I still feel he can perform better for Real. In his defence he has been injured quite frequently. I do believe that were Ronaldo to leave, then Bale would really flourish. The former, although a once-in-a generation player, is clearly egocentric in a football sense. It may be a cheesy line at this stage, but you definitely get the feeling that he is more of an individualist than a team man, despite all his skill.

So everything has to go through Ronaldo for Real and I think this inhibits and lessens Bale. It was possible to see a little bit of a changing of the guard at the end of this season, as Ronaldo will be 32 at the end of next season, but should he leave, it would sigificantly improve Bale's influence in my opinion, perhaps even to the degree where he challenges for the Ballon d'Or.

Ironically enough, Bale is at one of 2-3 clubs in the world where it's not a cast-iron certainty he'll be the go-to man, but of course this is a by-product of his brilliance and an extra challenge for himself.

An off-shoot of this theory is that seemingly Eden Hazard is the exact opposite, ie he performs best when the spotlight is off him and expectations are lower. Hence his below-bar performances this year after winning the invididual awards last season and also with the Belgian national team.

OnTheCouch

NIMAN wrote: »

Neymar's a fancy dan. A spoofer.

I'd say we would see a different Bale if Ronaldo was to leave the Bernabeu this summer. He is so much in his shadow and everything has to revolve around Ronaldo I think it leaves Bale shackled a bit.

I don't think Bale will ever reach the level that Ronaldo reached in his career, but then again few will. I do think Bale is an outstanding player and will be in the worlds top 3 once Ronnie hangs his boots up.

Neymar's had an awful 2016 to be honest. Last year he was putting in some scintillating performances and I am sure I was not the only one who believed that it was simply a matter of time before he over took Ronaldo/Messi and won the Ballon d'Or.

This year, whatever the reason, he has flopped quite considerably and Suarez and probably Bale are ahead of him as players at the moment.

I definitely agree with the above quote. Bale seems to be exactly the type of player that really thrives and excels when he is the main man, the responsibility of leading the team seems to push him up another level again. He reminds me of Maradona to some degree (not saying he's quite in the same class as a player, but the way the limelight and the attention seems to bring the best out of him). Witness his general performances for Wales - where he really is by far the outstanding talent and his last two seasons for Spurs.

Now Bale has been very good the second half of this season, but I still feel he can perform better for Real. In his defence he has been injured quite frequently. I do believe that were Ronaldo to leave, then Bale would really flourish. The former, although a once-in-a generation player, is clearly egocentric in a football sense. It may be a cheesy line at this stage, but you definitely get the feeling that he is more of an individualist than a team man, despite all his skill.

So everything has to go through Ronaldo for Real and I think this inhibits and lessens Bale. It was possible to see a little bit of a changing of the guard at the end of this season, as Ronaldo will be 32 at the end of next season, but should he leave, it would sigificantly improve Bale's influence in my opinion, perhaps even to the degree where he challenges for the Ballon d'Or.

Ironically enough, Bale is at one of 2-3 clubs in the world where it's not a cast-iron certainty he'll be the go-to man, but of course this is a by-product of his brilliance and an extra challenge for himself.

An off-shoot of this theory is that seemingly Eden Hazard is the exact opposite, ie he performs best when the spotlight is off him and expectations are lower. Hence his below-bar performances this year after winning the invididual awards last season and also with the Belgian national team.

~Rebel~

Deleted User wrote: »

Hope hes alright for the Euros. Taking that penalty seemed to hurt him. Looked like groin trouble.

He mentioned post-match that he cramped up just after taking the pen, so hopefully that's all it is.

JakeArmitage

Would the Brazilian Ronaldo be considered in the same bracket as Messi and the current Ronaldo?

willmunny1990

OnTheCouch wrote: »

Neymar's had an awful 2016 to be honest. Last year he was putting in some scintillating performances and I am sure I was not the only one who believed that it was simply a matter of time before he over took Ronaldo/Messi and won the Ballon d'Or.

This year, whatever the reason, he has flopped quite considerably and Suarez and probably Bale are ahead of him as players at the moment.

I definitely agree with the above quote. Bale seems to be exactly the type of player that really thrives and excels when he is the main man, the responsibility of leading the team seems to push him up another level again. He reminds me of Maradona to some degree (not saying he's quite in the same class as a player, but the way the limelight and the attention seems to bring the best out of him). Witness his general performances for Wales - where he really is by far the outstanding talent and his last two seasons for Spurs.

Now Bale has been very good the second half of this season, but I still feel he can perform better for Real. In his defence he has been injured quite frequently. I do believe that were Ronaldo to leave, then Bale would really flourish. The former, although a once-in-a generation player, is clearly egocentric in a football sense. It may be a cheesy line at this stage, but you definitely get the feeling that he is more of an individualist than a team man, despite all his skill.

So everything has to go through Ronaldo for Real and I think this inhibits and lessens Bale. It was possible to see a little bit of a changing of the guard at the end of this season, as Ronaldo will be 32 at the end of next season, but should he leave, it would sigificantly improve Bale's influence in my opinion, perhaps even to the degree where he challenges for the Ballon d'Or.

Ironically enough, Bale is at one of 2-3 clubs in the world where it's not a cast-iron certainty he'll be the go-to man, but of course this is a by-product of his brilliance and an extra challenge for himself.

An off-shoot of this theory is that seemingly Eden Hazard is the exact opposite, ie he performs best when the spotlight is off him and expectations are lower. Hence his below-bar performances this year after winning the invididual awards last season and also with the Belgian national team.

An awful 2016?!

Bit harsh considering hes scored 31 goals and has nearly 20 assists, he started the season great but his form did dip but its ridiculous to say he was awful or flopped.

He is a better player than Bale already and has far more potential than both Bale and Suarez, in fact if anyone is going to ever reach messi-ronaldo levels again Neymar is the prime candidate.

Paully D

Paully D wrote: »

2 Champions League titles in 3 seasons now.

58 goals and 40 assists in 122 games.

He also comes across as a very nice guy. It's good to see things working out for him.

87 goals and 60 assists 189 games now.

A total of 4 Champions Leagues in his collection.

Even this season he’s been in and out but still has 21 goals in 39 games, including a goal of the season contender winner in the Champions League final.

Superb player.