Trying to sell Bale is proving to be difficult

Gareth Bale has made clear on more than one occasion that does not want to leave Real Madrid either in this transfer window or in a future one. Even his agent, the rebellious Jonathan Barnett, has admitted it many times in public. 

Bale arrived at the club in 2013 for 101 million euros. It was expected that he could be the perfect replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, but he has only been so on a few occasions. 

Injuries have severely hampered him in Spain although he was the hero in two Champions League finals and a Copa del Rey final while at Real Madrid. 

The cited media outlet says that Madrid have spent 17.8 million euros in each of his six years at the Bernabeu so that makes up the 101 million euros they signed him for. 

The problem for Real is his very high salary. Bale earns 14 million euros net - around 30 million gross - and he still has three years left on his contract. 

If he does not leave before his contract expires, he will cost Real Madrid 90 million euros. And Real Madrid, knowing that he does not figure in Zidane's plans, hope to avoid paying him all this money. 

Any sale, however small it is, will leave some kind of profit at Real Madrid, but Bale's refusal to leave makes it more complicated. Jonathan Barnett has weighed up the possibility of him leaving for free, but the Spanish side are not even thinking of this option. 

The truth is that even if he goes for nothing, Real would benefit from it because of the large amount of money they would save, but it seems like Florentino Perez wants to try and get some money for the Welshman. That way, he could keep up his reputation of being an excellent negotiator and he could get some money for a footballer who has no future at the club. Bale turns 30 this Tuesday, but he has kept well away from the media spotlight. 

All the day's transfer news here!