Real Madrid Blocks Bale Move To China

Gareth Bale looks set to remain at Real Madrid, a club that does not want him, after the board blocked his lucrative transfer to China.

The Wales winger had been expected to join the Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning on a three-year deal this week with a contract worth more than £1m a week. That move is now off after the Madrid board reportedly decided they want a transfer fee for the player who joined Madrid from Tottenham in 2013 for a then world-record fee of £85m.

President Florentino Pérez is believed to have requested an extra payment to sign the 30-year-old, who still has three years remaining on the contract he signed in 2016 which is worth around £600,000 a week.

With the Chinese transfer window to shut on Wednesday, Bale’s hopes of sealing a move away from the Santiago Bernabéu this summer could now rest on him finding another club in Europe, with Real said to be prepared to join a Champions League rival for the right price.

The English transfer window shuts on 8 August – the day before the start of the 2019/20 season – but so far no Premier League clubs have expressed an interest in signing one of the world’s best-paid players.