Gareth Bale story: World's most expensive footballer who still takes his washing home to mum

His heart very much remains with his family and close friends in the leafy suburb of Whitchurch in the Welsh capital Cardiff

Home crowd: Gareth Bale with dad, sister and mum

It feels like the longest-running transfer saga in the history of football but – finally – Gareth Bale looks set to become the most expensive player of all time.
The Welsh wizard yesterday agreed personal terms with club giants Real Madrid – a modest £10million a year.

But the big question on many of his friends’ lips is will the £86million midfielder still take his washing home to mum from Spain.
Many a footballer has paraded their dirty laundry in public, but very few have taken it back for their mum to wash when they live in another country.
But that’s what Bale did when the washing machine at his London flat broke down.
The former Tottenham Hotspur ace jumped into his car, headed 200 miles down the M4 to Cardiff and the family home where he grew up.

The story typifies 24-year-old Bale, one of the best footballers on the planet, whose heart very much remains with his family and close friends in the leafy suburb of Whitchurch in the Welsh capital.
Currently, Bale lives in a £1.3million detached house a few hundred yards from the old Spurs training ground in Chigwell, Essex, which he shares with a cousin.
He also rents a property in Cardiff Bay and would be straight on the M4 most Tuesday evenings after finishing training to see friends and family.
Neighbours revealed that Bale’s pristine white Range Rover or white Audi R8 convertible can often be seen squeezed into his parents’ small driveway.

Number 11 at age 11: Young Gareth Bale

Wales News Service

Here, in the modest semi where he grew up, still lives his dad Frank, 56, a former school caretaker, and mum Debbie, 53, an operations manager.
Older sister Vicky, a primary school teacher, lives nearby. Bale is said to have generously footed the bill when she recently got married.
Not far away is long-term girlfriend, Emma Rhys-Jones. The childhood sweethearts met Whitchurch High School and now have a baby girl, Alba Violet.
Bale missed a big match against Chelsea to be at Emma’s side in October last year when she gave birth in Cardiff.

He often makes a heart shaped sign to Emma after scoring a goal – this famous celebration has been trademarked.
Real Madrid’s newest star will be introduced to 50,000 fans on a specially-built stage in the club’s giant Bernabeu stadium, flanked by coaches, directors and club legends like Zinedine Zidane.
But the most important person there will be Debbie.
Despite being advised by a team of sport and business experts, pals insist Bale would not have made his move without getting the nod from his mum.
For it is Debbie he is the closest to and looks to for advice.

Rising star: Bale back row, second from right, next to Welsh rugby star Sam Warburton

Huw Evans

Bale’s uncle, Stephen, 52, who also lives just around the corner in Cardiff, says: “He was a bit of a mummy’s boy. He listens to her a lot.”
When home bird Bale moved into his first London flat after joining Spurs, his parents were there, paintbrushes in hand, ready to help decorate.
He has admitted he phones them twice a day and when the then-Spurs manager Harry Redknapp ordered him to take time off and “find a beach somewhere”, he raced back to their semi in Cardiff.
Bale’s protruding ears made him the subject of much cruel teasing at school – with taunts of “jug-ears” and “wing nut” regularly hurled at him.

When he started playing football professionally he tried to make them less obvious.
One football writer noted he had “a selection of famously bad haircuts, presumably to cover the ears up”.
And in July last year, while his mates went off on sunshine holidays, softly-spoken Bale discreetly checked into the clinic of a leading plastic surgeon and had both ears pinned back.
After the surgery he began stepping out in what became his trademark haircut, complete with side parting and flamboyant quiff.
Not only did this sharp new image boost Bale’s self-confidence, it turned him into bankable pin-up football star.

Welsh gold: Gareth Bale scores for his country

Now Real Madrid have not only bought themselves a world class footballer, the new addition will be a money making-machine too, with sponsors falling over themselves for Brand Bale.

Real Madrid already makes more in revenue than any other club in the world, the first to breach the half billion euro barrier, the Deloitte 2013 Football Money League shows.
And Professor Tom Cannon, of the University of Liverpool Management School, says Bale is a way to make more: “He can help Real Madrid build a global following and revenues.
“The truth is that players in England, thanks to David Beckham, have a global profile that only Messi and Ronaldo come close to out of Spain’s players.

“If they can develop Bale into a Becks-style brand in China, Japan and the Far East, they can make huge amounts in sponsorship revenue.”
At Cardiff’s Whitchurch High School, Bale quickly showed stunning sporting prowess.
His PE teacher Gwyn Morris, had to write special rules which restricted Bale to playing one-touch football and not using his left foot in order to give other kids a chance.
He said: “It was the only way we could get an even game. He was very competitive and would play any sport.

"He was very good at cross country and was extremely fast on the pitch. It’s always very difficult to predict how well people will succeed but he certainly had the ability.”
His former neighbour, William Tout, 82, remembers Bale as a shy boy who was always kicking a ball about.
He says: “One day I counted 14 balls in my garden that he’d kicked over.
"Another time I was sitting on my patio when a ball came flying through and slammed into my chair. He dashed back into the house. He’s a nice boy but he’s not very chatty.”

Long-term love: Gareth Bale with girlfriend Emma

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Bale’s talent was spotted by scouts at Southampton at an under-9s tournament, and he was swiftly signed up for the club’s academy.
But while his skills and remarkable turn of pace marked him out as a future star, coaches had concerns that he was not strong enough to make the grade.

A string of injuries and growing pains between the ages of 14 and 16 meant he missed huge chunks of each season, and Southampton were within 90 minutes of releasing him when he was 16.
But in a make-or-break game against Norwich under-16s, he put in the sort of display that has made him one of the world’s most feared players, and Southampton gave him a contract.
He made his first team debut later that year, becoming the second youngest player ever to play for the team after Theo Walcott, who has gone on to play for Arsenal and England.
But despite making it as a professional footballer, the young Bale had no desire for the trappings of fame.
When training finished, he would go back to school and wait for his pals in the sixth form to finish so he could hang out and play computer games.

A source says: “He would be head-to-toe in Adidas tracksuits showing off his free clobber.”
And he is “very loyal” to this old group of friends.
One says he would make a point of trying to get home for birthday parties, although teetotal Bale would never touch a drop of booze.
One friend reveals: “He would buy a bottle of WKD just so he was holding a drink – but he would never actually drink it.
“He hates the taste of beer. It’s fair to say he’s got bottles of Man of the Match champagne stacking up at home.