Just over a year ago, after a decent but hardly world-beating season at Tottenham Hotspur, he decided to devote a portion of the summer to fixing a long-standing (and apparently bothersome) physical defect.
While his contemporaries relaxed on the beaches of Dubai or partied in the fleshpots of the Mediterranean, the softly-spoken midfielder discreetly checked into the clinic of a leading plastic surgeon. There, in a routine operation, both his ears — which were jug-shaped — were pinned back.
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From boy to man: Just over a year ago, Gareth
Bale discreetly checked into the clinic of a leading plastic surgeon,
where, in a routine operation, both his ears — which were jug-shaped —
were pinned back
Well-placed reports in the Italian press suggest Madrid will pay Tottenham an astonishing £94 million for the left-footed Bale
When Bale next stepped out at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane stadium, fans and commentators were quick to notice. ‘Before Bale had the ears done, he had a selection of famously bad haircuts, presumably to cover the ears up,’ says one leading football writer.
‘Harry Redknapp, his former manager, often used to joke that, if Gareth spent half as long thinking about football as he seemed to spend worrying about his barnet, he might turn into a half-decent player.’
Bale pictured at Grosvenor House Hotel with
girlfriend Emma Rhys-Jones picking up the PFA Young Player of the Year
Award earlier this year
After the surgery, Bale seemed to take heed of that advice. The once-shy youth began stepping out in what became his ‘trademark’ haircut: a ‘short back and sides’, with a razor-straight side parting and flamboyant quiff.
‘The sharp new image coincided with a dramatic change in Gareth’s demeanour,’ says the writer. ‘He’d always been a very quiet lad; sometimes painfully so. But that summer, he changed. Suddenly, he seemed hugely confident, almost cocky.’
He also looked in great shape. ‘When I saw him step out at the start of last year, it was almost like he’d done an Andy Murray,’ recalls another commentator. ‘Like Murray, who used to be a bit fragile but worked hard to build himself up, Gareth suddenly seemed stronger and fitter than everyone else.’
So began a truly remarkable season. Bale scored 31 goals for club and country (more than twice the previous year’s tally), created at least 17 more, and seemed to win several games almost single-handedly.
On the terraces, Spurs fans joked that the pinned-back ears were helping him sprint faster. But the joshing did little to dent his new-found swagger.
Indeed, in May, thanks to his blistering pace, scintillatingly powerful shooting and a devastating eye for goal, Bale was crowned Player of the Year by contemporaries in the Professional Footballers Association.
The honour was followed by a summer-long flurry of headlines linking the effervescent star to a hugely lucrative move to some of the world’s biggest clubs.
Among reported contenders for his precious signature were Barcelona, AC Milan and Real Madrid. And today, after weeks of speculation, Bale’s blockbuster move to the Spanish capital finally appears to be imminent.
After the surgery, the once-shy youth began
stepping out in what became his 'trademark' haircut: a 'short back and
sides', with a razor-straight side parting and flamboyant quiff
If it does go ahead, the transfer will go down in history. Well-placed reports in the Italian press suggest Madrid will pay Tottenham an astonishing £94 million for the left-footed Bale, whose contract at the London club was not due to run out until 2016.
The mooted deal will not only see his £75,000-a-week salary more than double to £160,000, it will smash the previous transfer record of £80 million, which Real Madrid paid to Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
It is, of course, a quite remarkable sum. So there will, quite naturally, be many who will find it symptomatic of the ongoing, quite regrettable, over-commercialisation of the so-called ‘Beautiful Game’.
Yet Gareth Bale’s imminent elevation to the status of ‘World’s Most Expensive Footballer’ won’t just spark vigorous debate about the creeping financial madness of our national sport — it also promises to shine an unrelenting spotlight on an outwardly clean-cut young man, who, in stark contrast to many peers, has managed to neatly avoid the pitfalls of fame.
Well-placed reports in the Italian press suggest
Madrid will pay Tottenham an astonishing £94 million for the
left-footed Bale, whose contract at the London club was not due to run
out until 2016
Thus far, Bale has appeared to be the consummate professional, both on and off the pitch.
While other football stars fall victim to the temptations of nightclubs or end up as gossip-column fodder, he is a wholesome advert for his sport: a committed teetotaller whose newspaper appearances are largely restricted to the back pages.
‘I just like chilling indoors, watching DVDs, playing on the computer or maybe going out for a meal with the family,’ he once told an interviewer who asked about his home life.
‘I don’t go out, so I don’t get attention from girls. I know people of my age like to go clubbing but it doesn’t interest me that much.’
Bale (pictured with his trophies at the 2013 PFA
Player of the Year Awards ceremony) in stark contrast to many peers,
has managed to neatly avoid the pitfalls of fame
Virtuous, and without a single tattoo, his monochrome personal profile — aided, no doubt, by careful media training — makes Bale a sort of antithesis of David Beckham, his predecessor as Britain’s most famous footballer.
Unlike Beckham, who is one of many footballers to have fallen victim to newspaper kiss-and-tells, Bale has for almost his entire career been in a committed and faithful relationship with Emma Rhys-Jones, his childhood sweetheart.
It was Emma who, several years ago, inspired the famous celebration that Bale makes after scoring a goal — a heart-shaped sign with both hands across his chest.
‘I hadn’t been playing for a while, and I was with my girlfriend and she asked what I would do if I scored,’ he once said, when asked how the celebration came into being.
‘I told her I would make the heart sign but I wasn’t sure when it would happen.
'When I eventually scored I did it and my girlfriend thought it was great.’
The couple, who met in their native Cardiff and enjoyed their first kiss in the shadow of the Welsh capital’s City Hall, have a daughter, Alba Violet, born last year.
Since her birth — which Gareth missed a crucial game against Chelsea to attend — the family have been living at his detached home in Chigwell, Essex.
Though Gareth and Emma are yet to formalise their relationship with a marriage, or even an engagement, she and Alba are expected to move with him to Madrid.
Gareth also remains hugely close to his parents Frank, 56, a retired school caretaker and keen amateur golfer, and Deborah, 53, who works in a solicitor’s office, and his elder sister Vicky, a primary school teacher.
Bale and Emma have been together since they met in their native Cardiff where they shared their first kiss in front of City Hall
Unlike most newly minted celebrities, Bale even shuns exotic holiday destinations to spend time at his parents’ £245,000 Cardiff semi. ‘I gave him four days off last week,’ Redknapp once told a reporter. ‘I said go abroad for a few days and he did: he went to Cardiff. He stayed at his mum’s. That’s the kind of boy he is.’
Bale was educated at the city’s Whitchurch School alongside British Lions Rugby captain Sam Warburton, who remains a close friend.
Bale was so skilled as a child footballer that his PE teacher, Gwyn Morris, made him use his right foot only in practice games. ‘It was one way to make sure everyone else got a touch of the ball,’ Morris said.
Bale was scouted by Southampton at the age of nine, made his first team debut at 16, and transferred to Tottenham for £7 million at the tender age of 18, in 2007.
It was Emma Rhys-Jones, Gareth's long-term
girlfriend, who, several years ago, inspired the famous celebration that
Bale makes after scoring a goal - a heart-shaped sign with both hands
across his chest
He then moved into a modest flat near White Hart Lane, and his parents were spotted turning up with paintbrushes and rollers to help decorate.
However, Tottenham failed to win the first 24 games in which Bale made an appearance (a Premier League record), and on the terraces fans began calling for his scalp. But all that has changed.
While his extravagant price tag represents a great financial deal for Tottenham, the club appears to be distraught to lose its star player.
It is also understood to be upset by Bale’s agent, Jonathan Barnett, who has given a series of indiscreet interviews to the Spanish media that has served to increase the price tag of his star.
Whether the down-to-earth charms of this
sparkling young footballer will survive his elevation to global stardom -
not to mention extreme wealth - now remains to be seen
‘Spurs just didn’t think they’d ever lose Gareth,’ says one insider. ‘Until this summer, he’d looked very settled and comfortable.’
In truth, though, signs of Bale’s growing ambition and financial acumen have been around for some time. Earlier this summer, he trademarked his heart-shaped goal celebration in an apparent effort to use it as a logo on a lucrative range of shoes, hats, T-shirts and jewellery.
In 2011, he moved to the £1,850,000 home in Essex, with a mortgage from the aristocratic London bank Coutts. He also bought a small fleet of luxury cars, including a white Range Rover and an Audi R8.
The decision to take Real Madrid’s coin was made in July this year, during Tottenham’s tour to Hong Kong, when Bale was injured.
‘One day, after weeks of humming and hawing about the move, Bale called Barnett and said: “Just get it done,”’ says one informed observer. ‘He never seemed like a decisive or pushy chap, and I think it surprised Spurs — they saw a side of Bale they’d never previously known.’
Bale’s representatives will make a reported £5 million from the deal. Bale is expected to profit similarly.
Whether the down-to-earth charms of this sparkling young footballer will survive his elevation to global stardom — not to mention extreme wealth — now remains to be see
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