Gareth Bale will move to Madrid for €91m, which is short of the world record transfer fee

We're expecting Real Madrid to confirm the signing of Gareth Bale at some point on Friday or Saturday, but until then, all we have to go on is rumors. And even when Madrid announces the purchase of Bale, they're not going to announce the fee. However, AS is reporting that the transfer fee will be for €84 million plus a potential €7 million in add-ons. This falls short of the world record transfer fee, which Madrid paid for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Madrid eventually paid £80 million for Ronaldo. The price cited by AS is in the neighborhood of £72 million, rising to £78 million. This makes Bale the second most expensive transfer in history, just ahead of Zinedine Zidane, Fernando Torres and Kaka.

Expect an official announcement from Madrid shortly. Until then, you can all wallow in disappointment that Daniel Levy's caved a little bit and let Madrid off somewhat easy, compared to the demands that he was making a month ago.

Or you can be pleased that we got £72-78 million for a player with only one elite season under his belt.