Bale Us Out Of Silly Season

The transfer market and rumour mill is stupidly excessive at the best of times.

The likelihood of any transfer rumour coming to fruition is how much people believe in it as much as how much truth there is in it. With the sole exception of sellotaping cameras to possible movers, there is a lot of speculation based on sources without any quote giving vindication.

Moreso than most, this summer has been particularly bad for it, but the Gareth Bale transfer has seen this moved into overdrive.

Real Madrid are known for conducting their transfers in a certain - they use Madrid newspaper Marca to declare interest, which destabilises the player's mental state and makes them want to move to Spain.

Usually it works. Many have said they would not fall for it pretty much in the same month they inevitably do.

It helps kill airtime and fill news space, but its a fairly tedious cycle some clubs seem to do their best to elongate.

Spurs were particularly adept at it last summer, as they elongated the transfer of Luka Modric until the first few weeks of the season all so more money could be accumulated. Eventually, Real Madrid outbid Chelsea for £33M.

Now they're giving it a go again, as they seem to try and make Real Madrid make Bale the first 100M Euros-plus player.

It is a good question as to whether or not the Welshman is actually worth such stupid cash. Bale is unquestionably a talented footballer, and he has proved it in the past few years. Last season was particularly impressive, as he bagged 31 goals in all competitions and was by and large the central reason Spurs got close to the Champions League places they so richly covet.

But it is strange to think that he, of all players, is being touted as this planet's most valuable. His contribution is of similar stature in terms of performance and scoring to the likes of Mario Goetze, Falcao and Edinson Cavani, who have moved for smaller fees. Luis Suarez, Liverpool's errant wonder-cannibal, is arguably of similar stature but at £40,000,001, is valued around £40-60M less than Bale. Something on the way doesn't seem to work.

Also debatable is how much the Spanish giants actually require his services. The team have Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel di Maria, Mesut Ozil, Kaka, the aforementioned Modric and new signing Isco in the attacking midfield/winger department. Its arguable they need strikers instead, although Fiorentino Perez seems determined to make a success out of Karim Benzema to the point where nobody else will be considered.

The signing is seen as a classic Galactico's 'brand' signing. Bale is big business - his face is on the new FIFA 14 computer game cover and is the face of Premier League TV coverage for new-comers BT Sport in the UK and for the blockbuster NBC deal in the United States.

With Barcelona picking up hot Brazilian talent Neymar for £50million, the other of the La Liga powerhouses feels left behind in that stake. Its a strange way that one of the world's biggest football team feels this way and its odd they've chosen the best way is to try and trump then with a huge and unnecessary signing.

Saying this, Bale would nevertheless give it a good go out in La Liga. The impressive 31 goal haul he managed for himself in 2012-13 is proof that he is coming into his stride as one of the big talents in world football, and scoring 45 goals in La Liga - as Ronaldo and Messi do on a seasonal basis - seems to be the way to prove.

But the problem is much the fact he is an unnecessary signing as much as the way the whole saga is dragging on.

The tactic of using Marca to try to bring the player is clearly not working the way they want, which has led to the "hard bargain" tactics of plucking numbers out of thin air with which to value him at. Sporting economics are tricky enough but the crazy numbers here take the cake.

They've been allowed to ferment through ridiculous and baseless coverage. Using Marca to generate quotes ensures these are repeated by news media in the UK, which in turn helps them fill pages with all manner of crazy speculation surrounding the future of the player.

This is not the first time this has been going on, and not the only moment ridiculous speculation has abounded. The most stupid was a sage that saw Arsenal allegedly about to sign Gonzalo Higuain, who duly joined Napoli instead, while the futures of Suarez and Cesc Fabregas have generated exceedingly heavy coverage for deals that may not even be in the minds of the buyers.

It all gets a bit gratingly tedious. People like a good transfer rumour but this excessive circulation just throws doubts onto the whole system.

Its not exactly great fun for the clubs either, who would probably prefer a quiet transfer move.

The sooner the silly season stops is probably for the best before everybody loses their increasingly frayed mind over the whole thing. It will also help the clubs that can finally begin planning without the paranoia their best player is about to be snagged before they can do anything about it.