Cairo, Monday @PeopleSport11
Gareth Bale has agreed to join Jiangsu Suning for a staggering Sh130 million (£1million)-per week, according to sensational reports in China.
The Chinese Super League club are thought to be ready to splash the cash to lure the Welshman, 30, to the Far East - with Bale allegedly ready to move.
Journalist Bai Guohua made the staggering revelation on social media platform Weibo this morning.
He wrote: “Congratulations to fans of Suning Club!” Guohua then added that Jiangsu had beaten off competition from rivals Beijing Guo’an to sign the Real Madrid star.
Bale is expected to leave the Bernabeu after boss Zinedine Zidane said it would be “best for everyone” if he moved on after six years with the club.
But his high wages, currently around Sh 78m (£600,000), have priced out plenty of potentially-interested club.
A move to China or Bayern Munich is most likely with a Premier League return seemingly off the cards financially.
Local media outlet Sina Sport say that both Jiangsu Suning and Beijing Guo’an offered lucrative contracts to Bale.
Suning are based in the city of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province in East China. They finished fifth in the Chinese Super League last season and currently sit in sixth position with 11 games remaining this term.
Their Instagram page - which has not been verified and has just 13.1k followers compared to Bale’s 40.5m - follows just 34 users, but one of those is that of @garethbale11, the winger’s verified account.
Chinese clubs have until July 31 to complete a deal for Bale this year.Guohua added: “Fans of Sunning Club please don’t write messages to me. The boss Zhang is so powerful!”
Billionaire Zhang Jindong is the president of Suning Group which owns the club and his company also holds the majority of shares of Italian football giants Inter Milan.
The hashtag #BaleJoinsSuning has been viewed more than 5m times in three hours on Weibo.
The details of Bale’s reported contract in China are unclear but with the Welshman offered the chance to become the first £1m-a-week footballer in Beijing, he is likely to have been offered the same at Jiangsu.
If Bale completes his move to Jiangsu Suning he will join Brazilian former Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Alex Teixeira and Italian striker Eder as the team’s other foreign stars.
But just three minutes after his original post, Guohua made sure to cover himself if Bale did not sign for Suning after all. -THE SUN
