Liga - Perez: £86m Bale was 'cheap', United interest sparked bid

Florentino Perez has described the deal that took Gareth Bale to Real Madrid as ‘cheap’, while also revealing that interest from Manchester United in the Welshman prompted their deal.

There were conflicting reports on just how much Bale cost, with some reports suggesting it was £86m, which would be a world record, while others, mostly emanating from Spain, stated it fell just short of the £80m the Liga giants paid Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

“Bale's signing has been cheap” Perez told radio station Cadena SER. "He was the best player available on the market allowed us to bring in more money than we've laid out."

“His signing was in line with the model of Santiago Bernabeu, that is of having the best players. This is a wise move as we've shown before with Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo. We went from losing money to winning it.
"All the great players of Real Madrid have been cheap. I will not say the amount, but we must not focus too much on the purchase price.
“Some numbers that have come out I find difficult to understand and, if I were a journalist, I would not have reported them."
It had been well-documented that Tottenham were unwilling to sell their prized asset but a bid from Manchester United set in motion a chain of events that led to the Wales international signing for the club he supported as a boy.
“Tottenham did not want to sell and we respected that. Then, when we found out that Manchester United would be making an offer, we made our own," he added.
“Bale was a Madrid fan since he was little and his dream was playing here. He asked us to make it possible for him to come.”