Luxury Footballer

The pressure on anyone in football when they make a huge money deal is clear to see at the best of times.

It's hard not to notice Gareth Bale has been the subject of one of the biggest. Last week - on transfer deadline day, no less - he finally made the jump from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid.

A whopping jump it was too, with the Welsh winger costing the Spaniards an £85.3M transfer fee and about £300,000 in wages for his six year contract.

His former club were certainly unwilling to budge for anything less. Head coach Andre Villas-Boas frequently said the club's star man was not for sale and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was certainly determined to hold on in the wake of speculation that seemed to be relentless.

The saga only really began any momentum when Bale missed Spurs' first three games with various injuries. They did secure victories in their first two but were surprisingly unconvincing in their North London Derby defeat by Arsenal.

Arsenal then provided another kick in the teeth for their north London neighbours, as it turns out Bale meant Real attacking midfielder Mesut Özil was able to move to the Emirates Stadium. This was surprising given that the Germain international has been one of the club's key players in recent seasons, but Özil made a huge £42.5M move anyway.

Interestingly, support has favoured the departed player. Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the high profile Madrid players to voice his opposition to the sale of Özil, while other European football figures including Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas, German national team manager Joachim Low and Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp all voicing their surprise at the deals.

The surprising ease in which Özil was shoved out of the Real Madrid exit door is something. Real players certainly do not think Özil should have gone. But its also arguable Real Madrid didn't need Bale anyway.

As well as Özil, the club had Ronaldo, Angel di Maria, Isco, Kaka and Luka Modric as options. While Kaka left on deadline day to re-turn to AC Milan after an unhappy spell at the club, it is arguable the other options would have been enough for the Spanish giants.

Its arguable Real would have been better looking out for a striker, with Frenchman Karim Benzema and youngster Álvaro Morata their only real choices.

Now they have Bale they need to work out what to do with him. It is highly unlikely Ronaldo will fancy shifting from his preferred wide left position to accommodate Bale, so he'll need to go somewhere else.

Ancelotti's assistant coach has said Bale is not a guaranteed starter. Its likely, however, that the big cash means there could be some push to get him to play, as there famously was when Andriy Shevchenko joined Chelsea for £30M.

The speculation seems to hint Angel di Maria is the one to make way but him and Isco have made good starts so dropping either would be a strange one to justify.

Bale is seen as a possible commercial deal, with the Welsh winger already a cover star on the new FIFA 14 computer game and having had his face plastered all over New York's Times Square as part of NBC's Premier League broadcasting campaign.

With Real reportedly around 600million Euros in debt, this sort of commercial pulling power would come in very handy.

A lot of people seem to think the Bale deal was a statement of intent, with the club having been beaten to Brazil hotshot Neymar by Barcelona.

It is certainly a deal that stands out considering a summer that has seen many Spanish league stars leave for England, Italy and France.

Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla - three of the next biggest teams in Spain - have sold stars, while Malaga and Real Sociedad have seen their best players picked off by Real Madrid among others.

Spanish football's financial situation is precarious, with most of the league having to sell to by. In all, a record £450M+ in player sales was registered by Spanish clubs in summer 2013, with only Barcelona not seeing at least one big name leave the club.

Departures of Özil and Higuain have certainly not been welcomed, and Madridistas are a little underwhelmed their replacement is a winger who has only won one Carling Cup and has also only played one Champions League campaign.

Admittedly it was a great campaign for him, but it was still only one.

So, if Bale certainly wasn't feeling under pressure, this welcome to Spain is hardly a help. Something to look forward too when he returns from Wales duties and/or injury.

But now he's made it, will he be a success?

Jury's out but there's no reason why he can't make a go of it at least. If he applies himself well enough, maybe he could be the missing link Real wanted for that fabled 10th Champions League title that has eluded them since Zinedine Zidane's famous volley in Glasgow in 2002.

There's still a long way to go though. Six years to justify the extravagance begins now, and all that remains to say is good luck Gareth. He's gonna need it.