
Gareth Bale signed up for Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur back in 2013 for £85m, setting the record as the world’s most expensive signing at the time, beating transfer fee of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Bale won three La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions Leagues, three FIFA Club World Cups at the club and the Copa del Rey before leaving.
Despite the success he’d go on to have at Real Madrid, Bale was regularly criticised by the Spanish press.
Bale has now explained why the Spanish media never liked him.
“You sign as a galactico and they expect you to be everywhere, do everything, and I was the opposite. I just wanted to play my football and then disappear back into the darkness,” the 33-year-old explained to the Times.
“I could speak Spanish but I wouldn’t want to because I just wanted to keep everything private and quiet and not have this big fuss around me. Maybe that’s why they attacked me because I never really give a lot. They probably just didn’t understand me as a person.”