Bale price set at €159 million.

[oldironside]

Gareth Bale’s price tag was labelled disrespectful yesterday by Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino amid confusion over whether or not it would be a world record fee.

Madrid are poised to spend close to €100m on the Tottenham forward and Martino said: “Bale is a good player but the numbers that are being talked about; it is a lack of respect for the world we live in.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/transfer-news-barcelona-coach-gerardo-martino-labels-gareth-bale-total-fee-disrespectful-ahead-of-159m-real-madrid-move-8783407.html

The Spanish economy is in the sewer, the unemployment rate is over 25%, and Spanish football is €4,100 million in debt. Oh, and Real are nearly €600 in the red. As one of the posters put it, this is financial pornography.