Welsh star footballer Gareth Bale will join the Los Angeles Football Club and play Major League Soccer. /CFP
Welsh star winger Gareth Bale confirmed on Saturday that he will join the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) to play Major League Soccer (MLS) after leaving Real Madrid of La Liga.
"See you soon, Los Angeles," Bale wrote on Twitter while tagging the American club, which shared the post.
Since Bale's contract with Real will come due on June 30, he will travel to LAFC as a free agent, which means the team can complete the transfer with targeted allocation money to pay his expensive salary that may surpass MLS' maximum salary budget charge of MLS.
Gareth Bale of Real Madrid celebrates with the UEFA Champions League trophy after scoring two goals to help his side defeat Liverpool 3-1 in the final game of the tournament at NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 26, 2018. /CFP
Multiple media outlets reported that Bale agreed to a one-year contract with LAFC and that the deal includes the option to extend it by another year.
The unhappy "marriage" between Bale and Real has finally come to an end since the Spanish giants paid 101 million euros (about $106.7 million) to acquire him from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013. The relationship between the two sides has been strained for years. On the one hand, Real and their fans didn't like Bale's expensive salary and his sense of professionalism – Bale kept missing games for injury and other reasons. Nonetheless, the player often produced great performances in key games, including scoring two goals to help Real defeat Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League Final in 2018.
Though he has made limited appearances for Real in the past 2021-22 season, Bale is only turning 33 in July. He could still find a spot in a top European division, but he decided to go to MLS, where he will become teammates with former Juventus defensive leader Giorgio Chiellini.
Gareth Bale of Wales celebrates after helping his team win 1-0 against Ukraine in the FIFA World Cup qualifier game at Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, June 5, 2022. /CFP
Geraint Hughes of Sky Sports News believes Bale's transfer to LAFC is for him to stay healthy and ready for the coming FIFA World Cup at the end of this year in Qatar. Wales beat Ukraine to secure qualification for the tournament for the first time in 64 years.
"It would have been a huge risk for Bale to take even a short contract to play in the championship. The risk of being injured either through a mistimed tackle or just the attritional wear and tear of one of the toughest leagues in the world was, in my opinion, never on the cards," Hughes said.
"From Wales and Page's perspective, this is a really good outcome. The workload on Bale is manageable, but it will also raise his fitness ahead of the World Cup. Wales have long had total trust in Bale's ability to manage his own body; the 32-year-old is a fantastic athlete regardless of what you may have read or heard about his fitness," he said.