Wales manager Chris Coleman said players of Gareth Bale’s calibre are driven by a desire to achieve success on the grandest stage of the world football and not the financial aspects of the game.The 27-year-old penned an extravagant new deal with Real Madrid on Sunday with media reports suggesting the influential winger will earn a weekly wage of 600,000 pounds ($740,100) on his new six-year contract.
“He’s not driven by that financial thing of earning so many millions,” Coleman told British media.
“What he wants to do is win the Champions League again, win La Liga, do well again with Wales, go on and get 50 goals for Wales or 100 caps.
“The people like him who get to that level, that’s not really what motivates him. What motivates him is sticking the ball in the net, doing something amazing, achieving something with Wales no one’s ever achieved.”
Coleman did describe Bale’s new deal as “crazy” but also felt it was entirely justifiable in current market conditions.
“It’s a ridiculous amount of money. We can’t seriously sit here and say it’s normal to play a game of football and earn that type of money,” he added.
“But what would we do if we were offered that amount? We’re not going to say no to it. That’s the going rate. It’s crazy but it’s the going rate.”
Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales are third in their World Cup qualifying pool and host Group D leaders Serbia in Cardiff on Nov. 12.