Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has revealed how close the Championship club came to signing Gareth Bale before joining Los Angeles FC.
The Wales striker officially signed for the MLS side on Monday, after being heavily linked to Cardiff following the expiration of his Real Madrid contract at the end of last season.
Spotted on the Bluebirds training ground last week, Bale had previously spoken of his interest in playing for his home side and Tan has now confirmed the transfer is close.
“We were very, very excited, and of course it would have been a big coup for us and it would have been great for Gareth Bale to play for his hometown,” Tan said. talkSPORT.
‘He actually wanted to come originally; money was not an issue. We tried to make a good offer for him, but in the end we had to compete with many major US advertisers. The commercial deals there were very good for Gareth Bale.
Unfortunately, the offer was too attractive to decline. We tried our very best, but we failed.’
Bale has been on the hunt for a new club after Wales qualify for the World Cup in November, to rebuild his fitness for the tournament and his deal with LAFC will only last a year, although there is an option to extend it until 2024.
As a result, Tan remains hopeful that the 32-year-old can one day play for Cardiff, adding: “We’ll see what happens. Maybe Gareth wants to come home in 12 months.
“He has never played in Cardiff, a club that he and his family are fans of. He has a few more years and hopefully he will come and play for Cardiff.
“It wasn’t really about the money. Gareth wanted to help Cardiff and help Wales. It wasn’t really the money, so we were able to negotiate with him.’
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