After just over a year at Real Madrid, transfer rumours have started to link Gareth Bale with a move away from Real Madrid.
Whenever a big name player is linked to the Premier League, Chelsea are one of the teams rumoured to be in the frame. However, finances mean that we should take such rumours with a pinch of salt.
The price being quoted is well over the £90m that was paid by Real Madrid, with some reports suggesting Roman Abramovich is willing to make a world record £150m bid.
Gareth Bale is an incredible player and if he was available for a reasonable fee and wages any club in the world would take him in a heartbeat.
The financial reality of his move to Real Madrid mean that he has moved into a different financial level that Chelsea and a host of other Premier League clubs simply could not afford.
If Bale was available, his signature would probably require a minimum fee of £90m as well as £15m+ per year in wages.
Even at the height of the Abramovich era spending this simply would not have been within reach, with financial fair play it becomes impossible.
Chelsea have spent the last five years driving towards profitability and increases in revenue and a transfer market profit, mean the club has just declared a £18.4m profit despite a trophyless season.
This means that now is not the time to throw away this effort with a £90m signing which would improve the squad but not by nearly as much as his fee that would equate to three Diego Costas.
Chelsea are consolidating their position and Gareth Bale would not constitute a responsible investment.
It may be uncomfortable to read for Chelsea fans, but in an age of financial fair play the only club that could reasonably afford him in the Premier League are Manchester United. Whether they would make a bid is an entirely different matter.
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