Any other season and one would have assumed that he would have jumped at the opportunity. The lure of Old Trafford, the history, the prestige and the honour - it would be nigh-on irresistible for the Welshman to resist the overtures of Manchester United and the promise of Champions League football had the club acted sooner. However, they were tardy in their efforts to sign the Welshman, and only made a play to sign him when the worlds most prestigious club was in the hunt for his signature as well. Having missed out on signing him as a teenage sensation at Southampton, Ferguson should have returned to sign the wing wizard once he hit his stride at White Hart Lane, but failed to do so, leaving new boss David Moyes and chief executive Ed Woodward to desperately fling a half-hearted bid at Spurs in August 2013. By that stage, however, Bale already had his heart set on the dream move to Spain.
''Tottenham did not want to sell. We learned that Manchester United had made an offer and we made on ourselves. Since childhood he had the dream of playing for Real Madrid and he asked us to make it possible for him to come. - Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, September 2013.
Since then, Manchester United have flopped disastrously, finishing in seventh place, and five points behind the team he departed for bigger and better things. Bale, on the other hand, hasnt shirked under the pressures that accompany the £85 million price tag, and already has goals in victorious Copa del Rey and Champions League finals. A dream move, indeed.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
