Real Madrid paid more for Gareth Bale than it did Cristiano Ronaldo, and Football Leaks has the documents to prove it.
Football Leaks on Wednesday published documents which reveal Real Madrid paid Tottenham Hotspur a world-record fee for Bale. Real Madrid paid Tottenham €100,759,417 (£84.5 million/$132 million) for Bale, as was widely reported at the time of his transfer.
For two-and-a-half years, Real Madrid has claimed it paid €91 million ($123 million, £78 million) for Bale, which is less than the €94 million ($128 million, £80 million) it paid Manchester United in 2009 for Ronaldo.
Football Leaks’ documents show Real Madrid wasn’t lying outright when saying Ronaldo cost more than Bale. Tottenham offered Real Madrid two choices, according to Spanish newspaper AS: pay €87 million up front or pay four installments of around €25 million within 15 days of the transfer. Real Madrid chose the latter option.
The documents also reveal the transfer agreement prevented Bale and Tottenham from revealing financial details to the press.
On Jan. 4, 2016, The BBC’s Journalist Jonathan Northcroft revealed Real Madrid asked him not to write about Bale’s fee because Ronaldo “doesn’t like to see that someone else cost more than him.”
Football Leaks, a site which aims to drag the soccer world’s transfer dealings from darkness into the sunlight, appears to have solved one of the bigger mysteries of recent years.
Whether Ronaldo likes it or not.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@Squawka
