Rumours of Real Madrid planning to launch a bid for Manchester City sensation Raheem Sterling have taken the football world by storm. According to Sky Sports, the Los Blancos are planning to offer 70m plus Gareth Bale to City in exchange for the service of the 24-year-old English international.
Reportedly, the representatives of the Florentino Perez-owned side would travel to England to see Sterling play for the national team against Monetengro at home and away against Kosovo, before finalising on the details about their proposal.
Sterling has always expressed his desire to play in La Liga and the Santiago Bernabeu side’s interest for him is also well known at the Etihad. However, for their part, the Blues of Manchester are desperate to keep the 24-year-old who has emerged as a central figure in the club’s success under Pep Guardiola.
It was also revealed in the report that Manchester City manager Guardiola has shown some interest in signing Bale, who was all set to move to China in the last transfer window.
However, if the 30-year-old Welsh chooses to stay at Madrid, then Perez might have to pay somewhere near the amount of £200m which were paid by Paris Saint Germain to Barcelona for Neymar.
City had brought Sterling from Liverpool in £49m in 2015 which was a record back then for any English player. He had mad his debut for the team on August 10 that year.
TalkSPORT, a UK-based sports radio station, on the other hand, has rubbished the rumoured deal between Madrid and Sterling. The station quoted a representative who is believed to have denied any such deals.
The host of their mid-morning show Jim White quoted his source as saying, “With regards to that story running on Bale, Raheem Sterling and £70m – complete rubbish.”
Meanwhile, Bale has not featured in Real Madrid for a single minute after limping through the last stages in Wales’ 1-1 draw against Croatia on October 13 during the last international break. The former Tottenham Hotspur player has been since training alone in the Spaning capital.
Wales manager Ryan Giggs, though, has shown his eagerness to gamble with Bale’s fitness as he named him in the squad for their last two Euro 2020 Qualifiers tie against Azerbaijan and Hungary.