Florentino Perez: "€100m seems like a lot" for Bale

Usually, there is a pretty clear winner and loser in a transfer deal, in which one team obviously gets the better of the transaction. Manchester United got a great deal for Robin van Persie and Arsenal were weakened by his departure. Real Madrid probably won the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer despite his £80m pricetag. Liverpool absolutely swindled Chelsea in the Fernando Torres deal, then got swindled by Newcastle when they bought Andy Carroll.

And then there's the potential transfer of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a fee that would exceed £80m and come close to £100m in total value if it went through. Bale is a top 10 attacking player in the world and is basically irreplacable for a team of Tottenham's stature, while Real Madrid don't actually have that much money lying around and don't really need Bale. While Bale gets to go to a bigger club, play in the Champions League and make more money, it's almost certainly a losing deal for both teams. Spurs can't replace Bale and he's a huge waste of money for Madrid.

After he got stonewalled by Daniel Levy in meetings on Wednesday, Florentino Perez sounds like he might have finally reached the conclusion that buying Bale -- a poor man's Ronaldo and rich man's Angel Di Maria, who would be joining a club that just promoted Alvaro Morata and Jese Rodriguez to the first team -- is really stupid.

Here's what Perez had to say to ESPN Deportes, with some hilariously "respectful" lack of specific Bale mentions.

"We talk with lots of people and we will see what happens in all our negotiations, with this player and with others. We do not usually talk about other players out of respect to the player, the club and the president, with whom I made a good friendship last season during the signing of Luka Modric. If I do not talk about names, I do not talk about money. But €100 million seems a lot to me, a lot for everything. I do not talk about players nor money because I should not and cannot, out of respect."

If that's too much for you, that's fine. You can not pay it and Tottenham Hotspur can keep their best player. You can then spend a transfer fee you can afford on a player that you actually need. Everybody wins!