Gareth Bale will hit heady heights with move to Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur
A potential world-breaking transfer to arguably the planet’s biggest club might seem a glorious fulfilment of Gareth Bale’s professional ambitions, but joining Real Madrid could just be the start of his journey into sport’s commercial stratosphere. Bale is already one of British football’s most marketable talents. He earns a reported £2 million from his deal with adidas, and he recently agreed a new sponsorship deal with BT and an appearance on the front cover of the new Fifa 2014 video game – alongside Lionel Messi. But becoming the most expensive footballer in history would take him to a whole new level in terms of his global profile, and not just because of his proposed £180,000-a-week wage deal at the Bernabéu. Even those staggering sums are likely to be dwarfed by the money that could be generated by his image rights so a key part of Bale’s contract negotiations with Real – assuming Tottenham ...