Gareth Bale could leave Real Madrid on a free if they find club to pay Welshman's wages

Real Madrid rejected an offer of £89million for Gareth Bale from a Premier League club on the last day of the transfer window last summer, according to ex-Blancos president Ramon Calderon.

The Welsh superstar, who earns £15.1m a year, is considering leaving the club after becoming out of favour under current boss Zinedine Zidane.  

Bale joined Madrid in 2013 for £85m from Tottenham and it turns out he could have returned to England very recently. 

‘I know in the last day of the transfer window last year there was an offer from the Premier League,’ Calderon told talkSPORT.

‘They offered €100m (£89m), and Real Madrid turned down that offer because they thought Bale would be a player in their side.

‘I think his agent was here [In England] yesterday [Wednesday] trying to get a deal, but I don’t see any club paying that salary.

‘And, on top of that, if Real Madrid want to get a transfer fee… that’s impossible.

‘I think Real Madrid would now be willing to let him go without any transfer fee – that would be the solution – but in that case I don’t see any club paying €40m-a-year for a player who is 31 and who hasn’t been playing regularly in the last two years.’ 

Marca have suggested a meeting between Bale’s representatives Stellar Group has already been set up but Sportsmail understands there is still no imminent meeting planned. 

The coming together will not be instigated by Bale whose agent Jonathan Barnett has repeated the player’s intention to honour the two years remaining on his contract. 

According to Marca, Real Madrid will seek clarification from Bale over his commitment to the club. 

The player opted not to travel to the Champions League last-16 second leg against Manchester City. 

But Bale has hit out at Real Madrid for making it ‘very difficult’ for him to leave and admitted he would consider a return to the Premier League. 

Speaking to Sky Sports, Bale expressed frustration at Madrid thwarting his mega-money move to the Chinese Super League back in January.

He said: ‘Last year they blocked everything at the last second, so it was a project that I was excited for last year but it didn’t materialise. There have been other incidents when we’ve tried to go but the club wouldn’t allow it or have done something, so as for the club, what can I say. 

‘I want to play and I’m still motivated to play football so I guess it’s on the club really. I can’t really do much, they are in control of everything. I have a contract so all I can do is carry on doing what I’m doing and hopefully something comes up.

‘As I’ve said it’s in the club’s hands and they make it very difficult, to be honest.’  

Manchester United have been heavily linked to signing Bale in the past but are believed not to be interested at this time.