World's most expensive soccer player used to be a runner

I think the Bale - Bolt is a valid comparison. What does the most expensive (and close to hightest earning) football\soccer player earn versus the most expensive and highest earning athletics star?

Comparing what Bale earns now to what HE could have earned in athletics is interesting but we have no clue what level he could have got to. Though I think it would be fair to surmize he wouldn't have been one of the top earners in athletics as you essentially need to be head and shoulders above the rest in your event.

It is not all about money. In fact, the amount of money top soccer players earn ruins their soul in the long term and destroys their self discipline that got them to the top in first place. As a result most of them end up as cocaine addicts or alcoholics by the time they reach their 30's: see George Best, Paul Gascoigne, Diego Maradonna, Stan Collymore, Paul Merson etc; the list is long.

I would not say that professional soccer players are not particularly fit either. Even the best of the best at teams like Real Madrid or Manchester United would all get completely and utterly destroyed by Mary Cain in an 800m or 1500m race. On top of that, they are always playing matches and pick up a huge amount of injuries due to the nature of the sport. By the time they reach middle age they are basically physically handicapped. Not a good way to be no matter how much money you have.

Finally because they are paid too much money, most professional soccer players tend not to pursue an education and many grow up to be essentially illiterate. Distance runners on the other hand tend to be university educated and are much better equipped for dealing with many of life's matters that require a bit of thought. So if this Bale or whatever his name is really had Rupp-like distance running talent then it is a shame for him that he has gone the route of football. But it his choice to make of course.

Allegedly 4:08 for the 1,500m at 15.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1327102/Tottenhams-Gareth-Bale-reveals-The-Prince-Wales.html

Nothing absolutely spectacular but that's pretty impressive considering his focus would have been elsewhere although the cross-training benefits at that age would be pretty large.

A 2:24 at 800m at 12 is pretty decent too. Looks like he could have been something like a 3:40 man.

pots wrote:

I think the Bale - Bolt is a valid comparison. What does the most expensive (and close to hightest earning) footballsoccer player earn versus the most expensive and highest earning athletics star?

Bolt is 40th on the list, but there are 3 soccer players in the top 10.

The 12 year old girls record is 2:14

He is reported (well on wiki) to have run 11.4 for 100m.

At football he's the worlds most expensive but is he the best

No, he is not the best. The inflationary forces in football caused by increasing commercialisation and global commercial opportunities within the game keep prices of players rising extremely steeply. There will be a bottoming out at some point to a plateau but not for a while yet.

As for the 12 year old female comparison it is meaningless because at age 12 the physical development of males has not started to vastly outstrip that of female due to the fact male puberty is unlikely to have started or at least reached an advanced stage. The age 15 time is more interesting and important because at 12, as we all know, there are a lot of individuals who mature earlier and who subsequently fall back to the rest of the pack.

What is a comparable figure for transfer fees in baseball or basketball? I appreciate the NFL does not operate in quite the same way.

Bale is probably the first footballer I've ever seen who I genuinely think could've been an excellent 400m/800m runner. Used to hear it a lot about Beckham but he isn't half the athlete Bale is. He has a combination of power and fluidity when he runs that you hardly ever see on a football pitch.

Obviously this is speculation, but I think he could've been maybe a mid-45 400m runner - Very good, but not really cutting it at world level. Still an extremely rare beast in the world of football though.

The price Real have paid for him is clearly more reflective of their spending power than anything else. I'm a big fan of his, but they've taken a huge punt paying that much for him. Hope it works out though, at his best he's absolutely outstanding

Lord Lindsay wrote:

Finally because they are paid too much money, most professional soccer players tend not to pursue an education and many grow up to be essentially illiterate. Distance runners on the other hand tend to be university educated and are much better equipped for dealing with many of life's matters that require a bit of thought.

Do most African runners pursue a university education?

Lord Lindsay wrote:

Do most African runners pursue a university education?

Thanks to the American collegiate system, quite a few do, see Bernard Lagat, Peter Rono, Nouridine Morceli etc. Go and watch any interview with Bernard Lagat; he is far more articulate than any professional soccer player in the premier league. And that is while he is being interviewed in his second language.

waste of $$. if he is not Brazilian, he sucks

confusion boats wrote:

pots wrote:

I think the Bale - Bolt is a valid comparison. What does the most expensive (and close to hightest earning) footballsoccer player earn versus the most expensive and highest earning athletics star?

Bolt is 40th on the list, but there are 3 soccer players in the top 10.

http://www.forbes.com/athletes/

Add to that that there is a ton of money given to soccer players but very little given to track athletes that are not record holders. I'd like to know the total amount of money paid annually to all soccer players in the world vs. track athletes.

I bet that is enormously lopsided.

Reuters wrote:

Gareth Bale has just signed for Real Madrid for over $130 million. As a 12 year old he ran a 2:24 800 and a 4:59 1500. Should he have stuck to running?

http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=64725

re: $130 million

That would make him the highest paid athlete ever.

This article talks about his running background.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/8286070/Gareth-Bale-interview-born-to-run.html

"In fact, the evidence was there at school. At 14 Bale was running 100m in 11.4 seconds. 'I wouldn’t like to say what I could run now, but I’m definitely a lot quicker.’ He excelled at middle-distance and long-distance events, too. But long before that he had set his sights on a career as a footballer. Brought up in Cardiff, he had been spotted by a talent scout when he was still at primary school."

Gareth Bale is the most overrated soccer player of all-time.

His real value is about 20 millons. Not more. Tottenham now has a better replacement in Erik Lamela for 30 millons...a 21 years old boy who is going to make MORE noise than Bale. He's more skilled, he has more court vision, he's better scorer and assister if you take stats per game numbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK3N1W0IN24

Now, you are talking about his athletic capability. I say that almost every soccer elite player has that type of capabilities.

Bale is not top 5 nowadays in terms of running talent.

If you are looking for speed/endurance combination this is the real top 5:

1-Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)

2-Jordi Alba (Spain)

3-Marchisio (Italy)

4-Dani Alves (Brazil)

5-Angel Di Maria (Argentina)

6-Maicon (Brazil)

7-Michael Bradley (United States)

8-Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)

9-Fernando Torres (Spain)

10-Javier Mascherano (Argentina)

Even Landon Donovan is "on-par" with Gareth Bale.

Anyways, months ago, Di Maria managed the most incredible running-related performance in a stadium located at 12000 feet (La Paz Bolivia)...he ran 10 kilometers in 80 minutes (he was replaced 10 minutes early). Normally the midfielders run between 9-10 kilometers as average AT SEA LEVEL. Lionel Messi (striker) was vomiting all the way at this kind of abnormal altitude. You can not run and run again because your oxygen levels are inexistent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC010FcsvR8

I found this video. Gareth Bale IS NOT CAPABLE OF THESE KIND OF PERFORMANCES. GARETH BALE IS EVEN SLOWER THAN HIS NOW TEAMMATE DI MARIA.

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/videohub/video/clipDeportes?id=1758713&cc=7586

Only 5-10 soccer players are capable of this.

I remember another players with this kind of running skills.

Edgard Davids (Netherlands)

Pavel Nedved (Czech Repubic)

Ashley Cole (England)

Roberto Carlos (Brazil)

Luis Figo (Portugal)

Liliam Thuram (France)

As people keep saying $130m is the transfer fee paid to Tottenham from Real Madrid and NOT Bale's wages.

They are likely to be around $10m per year plus image rights (which have been split between Bale and Real Madrid) and sponsorships so more like $15m for circa five years.

Yes. Bale's net value was 91 millons (Euros)

But the point is...Real Madrid are a bunch of crazies.

They pay astronomic values.

I think there was another astronomic numbers (in Euros) this year.

Edinson Cavani (URU) from Napoli to Paris Sain Germain (64 millons)

Radamel Falcao (COL) from Atletico de Madrid to Monaco (60 millons)

Interesting that Messi's market value is around 250 millons (Euros).

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/study-215m-messi-worth-five-gareth-bales-110426880.html

Here is Messi at 5 years old. The ball was almost bigger than him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVV_ZxkA5w8

Here at 8 years old

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghZ1xiCuyUw

Here at 18 years old (World Junior Champion)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqxn3N5R9kk

Here at 20...(Olympic gold medal)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIAFVc-03YA

Here last year...al his 91 goals (World Record)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXrltgfrrqw

You have to be head and shoulders above everyone else in your event, and your event has to be 100m. That Bolt also runs and dominates the 200 is secondary; he'd never be making that kind of money if he only ran the 200 and didn't also have gold medals and world records in the 100. It wouldn't matter if Gareth Bale ran the 800 in 1:38 and the mile in 3:41; he'd never earn in athletics what he earns in soccer. It might be a different story if he ran the 100 and took down Bolt, but unless he dominated the 100, it wouldn't even matter how dominant he was in whatever other event.

pots wrote:

I think the Bale - Bolt is a valid comparison. What does the most expensive (and close to hightest earning) footballsoccer player earn versus the most expensive and highest earning athletics star?

Comparing what Bale earns now to what HE could have earned in athletics is interesting but we have no clue what level he could have got to. Though I think it would be fair to surmize he wouldn't have been one of the top earners in athletics as you essentially need to be head and shoulders above the rest in your event.

Lord Lindsay wrote:

Lord Lindsay wrote:

Do most African runners pursue a university education?

Thanks to the American collegiate system, quite a few do, see Bernard Lagat, Peter Rono, Nouridine Morceli etc. Go and watch any interview with Bernard Lagat; he is far more articulate than any professional soccer player in the premier league. And that is while he is being interviewed in his second language.

So the answer is no. You couldn't just say that?