Poor Gareth Bale, if there wasn't enough pressure on him in north London, it's quadrupled since he finally secured his record breaking move to the Spanish capital. After a transfer saga that lasted the entirety of the transfer season, the 85 million pound was officially unveiled on deadline day, only to be greeted by chants of "don't sell Ozil, don't sell Ozil". By then, speculation was ripe that Ozil was on his way to the emirates, and as was evident, the fans were less than happy with the link. The chants were not directed at the Welshman rather at Florentino Perez, the President of the Club.
Perez is famous for issuing the era of the Galacticos in is first term in-charge, in his first term of Presidency he aquired te signatures of stalwarts of the game, Zidane, Figo, Luiz Ronaldo, an Beckham to name a few. The strategy was simple, each season, the club would buy one marquee signing, a global face that would add to overall popularity of the club. This business strategy brought in relative success as well as the global popularity the Real Madrid hierarchy hoped to achieve. In order to balance the books, players that seemed to be working under the radar were not as glitzy as the big names were sold. The biggest example of such a sale was that of Claude Makelele. The 'Makelele to Chelsea' transfer raised a lot of eyebrows within and outside the locker room, with players as well as fans perplexed as to why he was sold. Suffice to say, Makelele went on to become one of the best defensive midfielders in the world at Chelsea.
Perez's second era at the helm of Real Madrid can be seen as the era of the new- age Galacticos, so far, he has signed and released Kaka, while Benzema, Alonso, Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo still walk out on the field with the Real Madrid logo on their chest. Bale's acquisition can be seen as another galactico addition. Again the whole cycle of balancing the books took place, this time the one who faced the axe wasn't a defensive minded player, rather the best play-maker the club had, Mesut Ozil. The transfer of the German to the Arsenal has given rise to the same doubts the Madrid faithful harbored during Perez's first term.
Since his move to the Spanish Capital at the age of 21, Ozil went on to provide the most number of assists in all of Europe, eclipsing the likes of David Silva, Frank Ribery and even Lionel Messi. 'Ozil to Arsenal' has created the same ripples within the locker room as the sale of Makelele, with players such as Sergio Ramos and Alvaro Arbeloa publicly expressing their discontent. Cristiano Ronaldo has perhaps been the most vocal about his shock at hearing the news, after all, many of his goals can be attributed to the killer pass laid out by the German International. In the crudest of language, Ozil is to Ronaldo what Iniesta is to Messi, or at least that was the case last season. This season Ronaldo will have to form an understanding with either Bale or Isco, whoever occupies the play-maker role.
Going back to how this affects Gareth Bale, for one, his world record transfer had been grabbing the headlines everyday except for the day that his transfer was officially confirmed. The shock value of Arsene Wenger's dramatic deadline day swoop was enough to oust the Bale saga of the front page. How this adds pressure on Bale is because his transfer to Madrid signaled the end of Ozil's career. And filling the shoes of a firm fan favourite is not an easy task especially if you have cost exactly double the amount of money earned from the other's transfer. Add to that the fact that the amount paid by Madrid to get their man is enough to feed a whole country in Africa for at least a week and you know that he is in a tough spot.
