Gareth Bale’s Real Madrid career came to an end on Saturday night with his final game in Los Blancos colours.
The Wales captain may not have made it off the bench for the Spanish giants in their Champions League final victory over Liverpool in Paris but their victory means he now has five European titles to his name.
His contract is now up in Madrid and after nine years with the super club, he is now a free agent. He won’t make a decision on his playing future until Wales’ World Cup play-off final match with Scotland or Ukraine is out of the way this coming Sunday in Cardiff.
Read more: Gareth Bale signs off trophy-laden Real Madrid career with classy statement
His agent, Jonathan Barnett, has already told WalesOnline in an exclusive interview that his client’s next move won’t be determined by finance but by where he wants to play his football.
He said: “Finance will not come into this. He’s already extremely wealthy. Gareth is probably the richest footballer Britain has produced. In any case, no club on earth would be able to pay what he’s on at the moment. Gareth realises that. Money is not important to him.
“It will be down to where he wants to play, a personal choice - but only after the Wales games are out of the way.”
Bale’s time in Spain has seen him rewarded handsomely. He initially signed a six-year deal in Madrid back in 2013 worth an estimated £300,000 a week. He agreed an extension in October 2016 until the summer of 2022 - the contract which is set to elapse next month.
So, from rough workings out, he would have earned just around 48million up until his contract extension in 2016. His updated terms saw him earn £150million in salary and bonuses over the course of the next six years at £350,000 a week after tax.
That would put his total Real Madrid earnings at just under £200million - and that’s just in salary and bonuses alone.
Various sponsorship agreements, including a lucrative six-year deal with adidas worth £20million, was signed in 2014, and according to reports that contract is still in place. He also has other endorsement deals to his name and has struck various others with big-name brands such as EA Sports and BT Sport in the past.
According to Marca, Bale's net worth in 2022 is 131million euros. Not bad work if you can get it.
