Real’s Bale 3/1 to make a Premier League outing in 2015

In professional sport, there is an old adage. Never say never. Only Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has chosen to tempt fate over one of his expensively acquired and great Galacticos.

Wales winger Gareth Bale has been consistently linked with a winter window switch to Manchester United, with reports varying between the Red Devils readying a world record £120m bid and offering star stopper David de Gea in part-exchange.

Coral offer special odds of 3/1 for fomrer Spurs wideman Bale to make a Premier League appearance for any club in the calendar year of 2015; something Perez vehemently insists will not happen.

In an interview with the Spanish press, he said: “We have not received an offer from Manchester or any other club for Gareth Bale.

“Just as I can’t imagine Real Madrid without Cristiano Ronaldo, I can’t imagine Real without Bale either.

“Bale is a key player. He has already done so much for the team and is a key part of our club’s future,” Perez continued.

“Every club knows that Gareth Bale will never leave Real Madrid and that the club will not discuss their star, no matter how much is offered.”

But every man, even Perez, has his price. To offer in excess of £100m for one footballer, who after all is just a man, is mind-boggling. We are not all that far away from this becoming reality, though.

Bale cost Real a reported £85.3m in the summer of 2013, which at the time equated to €100m. Just the small matter of £15m more, then, and we’re at a nine-figure sum for a player.

United boss Louis van Gaal was very coy when questioned about this strongly rumoured interest in Bale to boot. “I cannot discuss that with you,” he told journalists. “I discuss that with my CEO and not with anyone of the media.”

Could Bale be the superstar signing the Red Devils need to give their attack that X-factor of days past? Certainly, though Ed Woodward will need to break the bank to land him. That is something the United executive vice-chairman has done before, with the Angel Di Maria purchase this past summer.