Gareth Bale’s big-money move to China is off: Reports
Gareth Bale's reported big-money move to China's Jiangsu Suning has been called off by Real Madrid, reported various media outlets yesterday.
Reports over the weekend have claimed Bale will put pen to paper on a three-year deal with Jiangsu and earn a staggering deal worth £1 million (S$1.69m) per week at the Chinese Super League club.
But the Spanish giants are said to have pulled the plug on the deal, reported the BBC and AFP. They want to recoup their £85m payment to Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 for the Welsh winger in what was a world-record deal at the time.
Bale, 30, came off the bench to play half an hour in Real's record 7-3 defeat by rivals Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
An AFP source refuted Spanish daily Marca which said the player's family had blocked a potential move to Asia.
Marca said those close to Bale had asked his representatives to look for clubs in Europe "before definitively saying yes to Jiangsu Suning's offer".
Bale has won four Champions League titles (in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018) and the 2017 La Liga crown in his six years with Los Blancos and, with still another three years on his contract left, Real want to recoup most, if not all of the transfer fee.
With the Chinese transfer window to shut on Wednesday and the English window on Aug 8, Bale looks set to spend another season in Madrid.
This despite having effectively been frozen out of the team by Real coach Zinedine Zidane, who wants Bale to leave so that he can bring Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba to the Bernabeu.
Meanwhile, Italian side Inter Milan defeated a Neymar-less Paris Saint-Germain 6-5 on penalties in Macau, following a 1-1 draw in regulation-time.
PSG took the lead just before half-time when Kylian Mbappe was brought down by Milan Skriniar and new signing Pablo Sarabia floated a free-kick which a climbing Thilo Kehrer glanced into the net.
Samuele Longo equalised for Inter in injury-time to send the match to a penalty shoot-out, during which Samir Handanovic made two saves. - AFP
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