[ad_1]
Before the pandemic screeched global travel to a halt, Gareth Bale had developed something of a summer ritual. For anywhere from two to four weeks, the then-Real Madrid star would bring his family to Los Angeles and soak in all the city had to offer. One year they might rent a house in Bel Air, and the next it could be Beverly Hills. His kids loved going to Disneyland, Bale played the area’s nicest golf courses and, inevitably, he and his wife discussed their future.
“We always said we would love to try and live in L.A. at one time,” Bale told ESPN this week.
For someone of his extensive wealth, it was an easily obtainable dream. It was just a matter of when. As in, before or after his playing career was over?
It was a question Bale grappled with long before he entered discussions with LAFC last month, eventually signing a one-year contract to join the team with the best record in Major League Soccer. Over the course of roughly the past five years, Bale has had intermittent conversations with his agent, Joshua Barnett of CAA Stellar, about the possibility of an MLS move. Each time, while under contract with Madrid on some of the highest wages of any athlete globally, the timing wasn’t right. If he was to get to the United States, a free transfer was always going to be the most likely path.
That’s why when the subject was broached again in March, it felt more real. His contract with Madrid was up at the end of the season, giving him the option to choose his next club.
– MLS on ESPN+: Stream LIVE games, replays (U.S.)
– Soccer on ESPN+: FC Daily | Futbol Americas
– Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
“We wanted to wait until after World Cup qualifying and the [club] season was done and then take a fresh look at what opportunities were on the table,” said Patrick McCabe, CAA Stellar’s managing director for North America.
LAFC wasn’t the only MLS team that figured to be a possible landing spot, but its location provided an outsized factor, and the more Bale researched what…
[ad_2]
Source : espn
