With the looming transfer market coming to an end there is bound to be a few last minute signings to go through around Europe. One of the biggest transfer rumors all summer has been that of Gareth Bale to Madrid. This has been a signing that everyone has been saying was done yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that since the beginning of summer. So with all these rumors in mind, does Real Madrid even need Gareth Bale?
In my opinion he is nowhere near worth the reported £85 million plus but there is no doubt he is an extremely talented player with a lot of potential. But you simply can’t ignore this extremely inflated price and it will be brought up in this article because when you pay that amount of money for anyone you are expecting to get what you are paying for. It is obvious just based on the price alone that the amount of quality players you could get for that price is worth more than one Gareth Bale. The only difference is that Gareth Bale has the potential to be one of the world’s best players and an impact player. But as we all know, having the best players does not always guarantee results.
Let’s first look at Gareth Bale’s natural position; he was naturally a left wing back transitioned into a left wing player. Surely he is not going to get the notch over Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course there is the option of moving Cristiano into more of a central forward role which we have already seen a bit of this season but then I feel you are taking away where Cristiano is most dangerous, cutting in from the wing penetrating the center or attacking the wing to place a dangerous cross into the box. You end up turning Ronaldo into a number 9 when he is most efficient as a left wing player. It is also a known fact that Bale struggles with his right foot where as when you use Cristiano on the wing he is strong with both feet.
The other option is to use Bale as a right wing utilizing the ability for the wing player to cut into the middle and shoot on his strong foot. This is how Mourinho utilized Di Maria and Ronaldo while at Madrid, right footed player on the left wing and left footed player on the right allowing for the wings to cut into the middle with their strong foot on goal.
The third option is to use Bale as a forward. Even if you were to do this though you are taking away from the strengths of Bale which is finding space and being able to attack it with pace. He would then be forced to become a link up player when building up the attack.
I am not including the possibility of using Bale as a Left wing back for an obvious reason. The reason Bale became such a big target in Europe was because of his goal scoring ability and attacking threat. It makes no sense to purchase him based off his attacking ability to use him as a left back especially when we have a strong left backs in Marcelo and at the moment Coentraõ.
With all this in mind the question then arises, why are we paying £85 million+ for someone that you are not going to play in their strongest position or someone to just add depth to the squad? Would you pay €40 for Ozil to play him as a wing player when he is strongest as a center attacking mid? If you said yes then ask yourself why would you pay for a player based off of their stats and ability in a particular position to play them out of their natural position? Why not use that money to obtain a player that plays that natural position with just as much quality? If you are paying that kind of money it is because you intend to use him as an important player in the squad or build a squad around him. There is no doubt that Bale will become a Madrid player before the close of the transfer window but does it really make sense?
With only a few days left in the transfer market the suspense is building. There is the possibility of other Real Madrid players seeing the exit door that would help this transfer make sense. More twists are sure to come I am sure. I am sure we are all excited (and ready) to see how this transfer markets final days play out.
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