Gareth Bale is set to be the talisman for Wales as they prepare for their first World Cup in 64 years.
It has been an eventful 12 months for the captain, who over the summer traded Real Madrid for Los Angeles, signing on for MLS side LAFC.
At the time, Bale was worth an estimated £105million, mainly due to his huge £600,000-a-week package at Real, as well as numerous sponsorship deals.
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However his wage in California is comparatively modest, with Bale's current salary reportedly around £1,420,640 a year, raising to £2,119,121, including guaranteed bonuses and contract option years
To put it into perspective, ex-Premier League players Jozy Altidore and Victor Wanyama take home more, while Lorenzo Insigne, who swapped Napoli for Toronto in the summer, is by far the highest-paid player in the league, raking in a whopping £12,369,630 per year, almost double what former Liverpool midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri earns at Chicago Fire.
Bale has previously denied suggestions he joined LAFC for financial reasons. “There was a reason I wanted to go to LAFC, they are a club that is really on the rise and is going places,” he said in September. “It was a project I wanted to be a part of. This is a new challenge with a new club and new team and it gives you that freshness again about football, one I am enjoying and one hopefully I will continue to enjoy."
He has already added to his swelling trophy cabinet while at the club, heading home for LA in October as they eased to MLS Cup final success of Philadelphia Union.
Who is Gareth Bale's wife?
At his side throughout everything has been his wife and childhood sweetheart Emma Rhys-Jones. The pair were married in a low-key ceremony on the exclusive £130,000-a-week private Spanish island of Tagomago where they got engaged. The couple have four children together: daughters Nava Valentina and Alba Violet, and sons Xander Frank and Axel Charles.
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