• La Liga

Madrid plan to recoup Bale fee

Sources close to Real Madrid have already started revealing how the club plan to ensure a return on their £200 million plus investment in fee and wages over the six years of Gareth Bale's contract.

With the consensus in Madrid and London now tending towards Real having agreed a world-record £85 million transfer fee with Tottenham to sign the Wales international, questions continue about the wisdom of spending so much on a relatively inexperienced and unproven player, especially with the Spanish giants having sold the more internationally established Mesut Ozil to Arsenal for around half that figure.

Even before Bale's move was completed, Marca had reported that Madrid president Florentino Perez and his right-hand man and marketing expert Jose Angel Sanchez already had a plan in place to make the move profitable off the pitch.

No guarantee of success

Ronaldo moved from Barcelona to Inter Milan for a world record £19.5m © Getty Images

• ESPN's Miguel Delaney looks back at the most expensive transfers in football over the last 40 years, and deems whether each were a success or a failure.
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Amid its blanket coverage of the new Galactico's presentation on Tuesday morning, AS included a story, headlined "Bale will sell 40,000 jerseys a season", which gave details of how Madrid planned to "exploit the commercial potential" of the deal.

"The sales of jerseys could multiply should the player begin the season on the right foot, scoring goals and putting on an exhibition," the story predicts.

The summer's business at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu signalled the intention of Perez and Sanchez to pivot their focus away from the Far East and South America and towards the 'Anglo-Saxon market', AS said.

"The club are opening the Anglo-Saxon market after losing a share of the market elsewhere with the loss of Kaka, who has enormous pull in China and South America," according to the story.

Bale and Adidas are also reportedly now set to renegotiate their commercial arrangement, with Madrid set to receive a cut of all revenues generated. Bale will also appear alongside Barcelona's Leo Messi on the cover of the FIFA 2014 game, due to a deal with EA Sports.

The success of Bale's own 'Eleven of Hearts' brand will also apparently be lucrative for Madrid.

"With this it is expected to commercialise even clothes and jewellery which, according to the experts, could generate profits of €4 million a year," AS' story claims.

Meanwhile, former Madrid striker Ronaldo has called on journalists and supporters not to 'obsess' about the money which has been paid for Bale.

The ex-Brazil international warned Bale via Mundo Deportivo that his huge price-tag could become an issue should things not go well on the pitch.

"There should not be an obsession over the price which has been paid," Ronaldo said. "It will be normal that when he does something wrong on the pitch, the fans will consider that, having paid €100 million for him, he is obliged not to make mistakes."

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