City could be set to challenge Chelsea and United this summer, with all three clubs supposedly vying to sign Real Madrid attacker Gareth Bale for a world-record fee, according to the Daily Mail.
The Welshman signed for Real 18 months ago for a fee of £85 million, which was and still is a world-record, passing the fee for Cristiano Ronaldo a few years ago. After initial success in the Spanish capital he has somewhat faltered this season and has been repeatedly linked with a move back to the Premier League. United have been linked most-frequently, but City and Chelsea could now be in the race to sign the 25-year-old.
Bale has played 37 games for Real Madrid in all competitions this season, and has scored 16 goals in the process, but is without a goal since late January and has also been criticised for selfishness in recent weeks. This has led to speculation he could be on his way out of La Liga in the summer, with very few clubs able to foot the bill.
The Mail believe it would cost around £100 million to bring the Welsh winger back to England, as well as having wages of about £300,000 per week on top of that already hefty fee. However, City have been struggling for pace in attack for some time now, and could stump up that much money, if they were not only able to make it fit into FFP, but also if they could justify spending that much money on someone who isn’t Ronaldo or Messi.
Bale has 36 goals in 76 games for Real Madrid since he signed from Tottenham in the summer of 2013.
