Gareth Bale is leaving Real Madrid after nine successful years with the Spanish club.
The former Southampton and Tottenham player won the fifth trophy in the Champions League in Paris with the Royal Club last weekend. Carlo Ancelotti’s team defeated Liverpool. Bale addressed his teammates and fans via social networks.
“I am writing this message to thank all my teammates, past and present, coaches, other staff, and fans who supported me. I arrived in Madrid nine years ago as a young man who wanted to make his dream come true and play for Real. I wanted to wear the perfect white jersey and have Real’s coat of arms on my chest, to play at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium to win trophies, first and foremost the Champions League. Now I can look back and when I think of saying that I have achieved all that, and much more than that. It was an unforgettable experience to enter the history of Real Madrid and achieve what we have achieved. I will never forget that. I would also like to thank the club’s management for giving me a chance—President Florentino Perez, Jose Angel Sanchez, and the entire board. It was an honor. “Thank you,” Gareth Bale wrote on social media.
Bale arrived at Real in 2013 for compensation of 101 million euros. He was then a player for the Spanish giant, with the exception of one period in 2020–2021, when he returned to Tottenham on loan. Real have often said publicly that they want to sell it, but that no one wants to take Bale’s astronomical salary.
