MADRID — Gareth Bale hailed his move to Real Madrid as a “dream come true” as he was officially unveiled in front of 20,000 fans at the Santiago Bernabeu Monday. Bale's prolonged transfer from Tottenham Hotspur was finally completed Sunday evening with reports in England suggesting the Welshman had become the most expensive player of all time at $133.5 million (£85.3 million). And the 24-year-old has already targeted winning the Champions League this season as his main goal. “It is a dream come true for me to play for Real Madrid,” he said in Spanish, to the delight of the local fans. “I hope to be able to help the team have success and win the 10th European Cup this year.” Bale then took to the pitch at the Bernabeu for the first time in his new Real kit to perform a series of tricks and to kick balls into the stands for the adoring fans. However, far from the fanfare that welcomed Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival in the Spanish capital, there is some skepticism as to whether Madrid really needs Bale, especially at such a staggering price. Ronaldo arrived having been crowned the World Player of the Year in 2008 and with three Premier League titles and a Champions League to his name. More importantly, he has more than lived up to his price tag with 202 goals in his 202 appearances to date. Bale, by contrast, has only ever played in the Champions League for one season and despite his spectacular individual displays last season, he still couldn't lift Spurs into the top four in the Premier League. It is not even immediately clear where Bale fits into the new Real Madrid project under new manager Carlo Ancelotti. The signings of midfielders Asier Illarramendi and in particular Isco earlier in the transfer window were designed to make Real's style more closely resemble that of rival Barcelona with a more patient, possession based build-up. Ancelotti himself said last week that his idea was “not to play on the counter-attack” in a thinly veiled reference to the rapid counter-attacking style Jose Mourinho employed during his time at the Bernabeu. However, with Bale now joining Ronaldo, Real has two of the most devastating counter-attacking players on the planet. A further complication is that Bale has also thrived at Spurs in the wide left position that Ronaldo has occupied during his time in Madrid. With Isco and Mesut Ozil clogging up the role directly behind the striker that Bale also excelled in for part of last season, it seems most likely that he will be shunted out to the right. And on top of playing in an unfamiliar position, the Welshman will also have to carry the pressure brought about by the massive investment made in him. Given Madrid's apparent need for a striker rather than another attacking midfield player, cynics have pointed to president Florentino Perez trying to target Bale's marketability rather than his skills on the pitch. Perez's two terms as president have been marked by big-money signings which he claims the club ends up gaining from not only on the field, but in a commercial sense as well. Legendary Italian coach and former sporting director at Real, Arrigo Sacchi, labeled the bid for Bale as a “marketing ploy” and claimed Perez was trying to recreate the commercial success the club enjoyed in the English speaking world during David Beckham's spell in Madrid. Whilst Bale isn't quite as box office as Beckham, his image alongside Lionel Messi on the front cover of the FIFA 14 video game and as the face of American network NBC's Premier League coverage on a huge advert in Times Square, has convinced Perez that at just 24 he could turn out to be as profitable in a commercial sense as Beckham, Ronaldo or Messi. To do that though he'll need to keep producing on the field. With the pressure that comes with playing for one the biggest clubs in the world along with the fee, adjusting to a new league and not having a team built around him, that is a challenge unlike anything Bale will have faced in his career to date. — Agencies
