Real Madrid may be obsessed with keeping Cristiano Ronaldo happy (to the point of lying about paying more for Gareth Bale)... but the truth is they're both staying

A radio impersonator pretending to beReal Madrid spokesman Emilio Butragueno told Argentine radio station Rock and Pop this week that the club were planning to sell Gareth Bale.

After signing along to Spanish band Heroes del Silencio live on the station’s morning show ‘Sexy People’ Butragueno appeared to drop the bombshell in a bizarre interview that originally focussed on Boca Juniors midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur who has been linked with the Spanish club.

‘Bentancur is done and Lucas Vazquez and Gareth Bale will leave the club. I wasn’t going to say that but I got excited with the music,’ said the fake Butragueno.

Bale’s future, much like his recent past, continues to be news the world over. If it’s not ‘Sexy People’ then it’s the altogether more serious and credible Football Leaks confirming what everyone suspected that Real Madrid did indeed break the transfer world record when they signed Bale.

Cristiano Ronaldo (left) has to accept that Gareth Bale is Real Madrid's €100m man after new confirmation

Real Madrid said they paid less for Bale than they did in 2013 it seems to appease the ego of star Ronaldo

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The Welshman cost €100,759,417 (£77m) when he signed from Spurs in 2013. He was more expensive than Cristiano Ronaldo – which seems to have been the reason why Real Madrid dressed the deal up as having cost just €91,589,842 (£70m).

Back in 2013, Florentino Perez was keener to keep Ronaldo happy than he perhaps is now. The player was approaching his peak at the club – that season he scored 17 goals in the Champions League as Real finally won their coveted 10th European crown.

Whether it was a gesture of good faith towards the Portuguese or something Ronaldo had insisted on - remaining the club’s record signing - is not clear. Either way the need to lie was like a 'Welcome' doormat for Bale as he stepped over the Real Madrid threshold for the first time.

‘Nothing here will be as it seems’ will be the message he took away from the odd necessity to hide the fact that the club - usually prone to shouting financial grandeur from the roof-tops - had spent more on him than on the three times Ballon d’Or winner.

Bale cost €100,759,417 (£77m) when he signed from Spurs in 2013 but Real said they shelled out €91,589,842 (£70m), a move which appears to have been to keep the figure below their record fee for Ronaldo

Ronaldo (left) shakes the hand of Messi's wife Antonella Roccuzzo before her husband won the Ballon d'Or

Bale is now officially the €100m man, and in monetary terms trails Ronaldo only in terms of wages. The former Tottenham player’s current contract runs until 2019 and sees him earn around €12m a season.

Ronaldo’s astronomical deal until 2018 has him taking home €21m but plans are afoot to bump Bale’s money up to €14m at the end of this season. Madrid may not be able to sign anyone so the Galactico presentations are going to have to be for contract renewals instead of new players.

The transfer ban also means the on-going ‘this town ain’t big enough for the both of us’ melodrama that has always served as a backdrop to Ronaldo and Bale’s relationship will have to be parked for the next 18 months. They are both staying.

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But we know known what everyone suspected, Real broke the world transfer record when they signed Bale

Bale and Ronaldo will have to get used to each other, with their departures unlikely amid a transfer ban

Ronaldo did not take kindly to being asked by the club to help Bale establish himself as the world’s best and a Ballon d’Or winner of the future. It is no secret that his fiercely competitive nature extends to his own team-mates at times.

But going forward their relationship may well be about to change. Ronaldo is mellowing, as evidenced by his behaviour at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in January where he saw first-hand how Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and his own heir apparent Neymar get along just fine.

There was an interesting comment this week from departing Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli that Barca’s front three work together and Real’s, at times, works against each other.

The future may be far more harmonious now that it seems everyone is staying right where they are.

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