What Gareth Bale has said on bankruptcy fears amid Cardiff City takeover links | OneFootball

Gareth Bale has been linked with a takeover of Cardiff City, but the former Wales legend has opened up about his bankruptcy fears.

Former Real Madrid and Wales legend Gareth Bale, who has been linked with a takeover of Cardiff City in recent months, has revealed that he feared going bankrupt after his playing career came to an end.

Bale announced his retirement from football in January 2023 after an illustrious career that saw him win 15 major trophies with Real Madrid and help Wales reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016 among a host of other impressive achievements, but despite hanging up his boots, it seems he is keen to continue his involvement in the game.

It was reported back in June that Bale had been lined up to front a US-based private equity group's takeover of Plymouth Argyle, but those claims were denied a few days later, and it was revealed that the 36-year-old was instead leading a consortium who are looking to buy his hometown club Cardiff.

Bale and his consortium had their first offer, which was believed to be worth around £40 million, rejected by Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan, but he revealed in July that a fresh proposal had been submitted, and he insisted that the bid was "very fair" and "something we hope the current owners will take serious".

However, there have been no further updates since then, and with chairman Mehmet Dalman explaining in August that Tan would be reluctant to sell the club in League One, instead preferring to do so when in the Championship or Premier League, a takeover by Bale looks unlikely for now at least.

Gareth Bale opens up on bankruptcy fears amid Cardiff City takeover talk

Bale is estimated to have a net worth of around £120 million, and he has been involved in a number of business ventures since retiring from football, including opening a bar called Elevens before launching a golf and dining venue named Par 59, while he is a minor shareholder in Penderyn Distillery and has also invested in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's TGL league.

However, while Bale's business empire currently appears to be thriving, he has admitted that he was fearful about going bankrupt once his playing days came to an end, and he revealed that he started planning for life after football long before retirement in order to avoid that eventuality.

"There was one thing that always scared me inside," Bale said during an interview with Front Office Sports, as quoted by talkSPORT.

"You read articles about when people finish professional sports, they go bankrupt.

"They don’t know how to manage their money, they don’t know how to do all these things.

"A lot of, I imagine, athletes live a big lavish lifestyle. I try not to do that. I always had one eye on what life would be like after football.

"When I finish, I stop getting the pay cheque. How do people then restructure their lives?

"So I was always trying to diversify from quite early on. I always had this pillar idea where I would try and invest my money in different things.

"If one pillar got chopped down and didn’t work, the whole building is not going to fall down."

Cardiff have made a strong start to the season in League One, but a brief spell of positive form is unlikely to change the view of many Bluebirds supporters that Tan is not the right man to take the club forward long-term.

Bale may understandably have had concerns about what his financial situation would look like after his playing career ended, but given the wealth he possesses and the success he has enjoyed in his post-football ventures, he has managed to avoid his fears becoming a reality, and he is evidently a sensible thinker and a shrewd businessman.

Given Bale's clear financial acumen, Cardiff supporters would no doubt love to have him in charge of their club, but as things stand, it seems Tan has no intention of selling, so the prospect of a takeover by the Welshman will have to remain a dream for now.