The agent of Gareth Bale, Jonathan Barnett, has revealed Barcelona wanted the winger but Bale only had eyes for Real Madrid.
Barnett has given an interview to AS and addressed topics such as his involvement in one of professional sports' most significant transfers, the rumoured interest from Barca, the difficulty of negotiations with Tottenham and reports of Bale's troublesome back.
“It was one of the greatest, if not the largest [transfers], and to have done [the deal] is a great honour for me because I met Gareth when he was very young,” Barnett revealed.
“I was able to realise his dream … He always wanted to play for Madrid. He could have gone to United or other clubs, but he wanted Madrid.
“I know that at one time Barcelona were also interested in him, but he said he didn't want to go there. There were two agents who called me…
“Tottenham didn't want to sell him, so they wanted a ridiculous amount of money. But I always believed in my own ability. Maybe the Madrid President had doubts, so the hardest thing was to convince him to continue, not wanting to get to the last moment, as happened with Modric.
“When Gareth joined Real, I heard an expert on television saying he was too young. [The expert] has never met Bale in person. With some difficulty, he showed in his first year that we were right.
“Back injury? It's a fallacy that was published a newspaper. It's 100% not true.”
