My other point is... when Gareth Bale was purchased by Real for 100 million Euros, he was by and far the best player in the Premier League. Not even close. When Cristiano Ronaldo was purchased for 94 million Euros, he was by and far the best player in the Premier League again. Same with Suarez when Barcelona purchased him. Nobody even came close.

That's not quite true. In Ronaldo's case, certainly, but when Bale was sold there were many people who raised Suarez and Hazard above him, and there were accusations of British bias and British over-hyping, and all the usual excuses for why a British (or Spurs) player wasn't really that good etc.

Of course, much of this can be put down to people like that being idiots, but it wasn't quite as clear cut as to whom was the best, when either Suarez or Bale were sold. The difference was that all the other contenders (Hazard, Aguero etc) were already at super-rich clubs, whereas Bale and Suarez were at clubs who didn't have the money or leverage to force the player to stay.

Madrid could not have bought Bale in the same way they bought Hazard, for instance. That made a big difference.

My other point is... when Gareth Bale was purchased by Real for 100 million Euros, he was by and far the best player in the Premier League. Not even close. When Cristiano Ronaldo was purchased for 94 million Euros, he was by and far the best player in the Premier League again. Same with Suarez when Barcelona purchased him. Nobody even came close.

That's not quite true. In Ronaldo's case, certainly, but when Bale was sold there were many people who raised Suarez and Hazard above him, and there were accusations of British bias and British over-hyping, and all the usual excuses for why a British (or Spurs) player wasn't really that good etc.

Of course, much of this can be put down to people like that being disrespectful idiots (here's looking at you Gonzi!), but it wasn't quite as clear cut as to whom was the best, when either Suarez or Bale were sold. The difference was that all the other contenders (Hazard, Aguero etc) were already at super-rich clubs, whereas Bale and Suarez were at clubs who didn't have the money or leverage to force the player to stay.

Madrid could not have bought Bale in the same way they bought Hazard, for instance. That made a big difference.

My other point is... when Gareth Bale was purchased by Real for 100 million Euros, he was by and far the best player in the Premier League. Not even close. When Cristiano Ronaldo was purchased for 94 million Euros, he was by and far the best player in the Premier League again. Same with Suarez when Barcelona purchased him. Nobody even came close.

That's not quite true. In Ronaldo's case, certainly, but when Bale was sold there were many people who raised Suarez and Hazard above him, and there were accusations of British bias and British over-hyping, and all the usual excuses for why a British (or Spurs) player wasn't really that good etc.

Of course, much of this can be put down to people like that being disrespectful idiots (here's looking at you Gonzi!), but it wasn't quite as clear cut as to whom was the best, when either Suarez or Bale were sold. The difference was that all the other contenders (Hazard, Aguero etc) were already at super-rich clubs, whereas Bale and Suarez were at clubs who didn't have the money or leverage to force the player to stay.

Madrid could not have bought Hazard in the same way they bought Bale, for instance. That made a big difference.

Well, for one thing Chelsea are super-rich, so they're already paying Hazard a ridiculous amount of money. Bale, by contrast, was at Tottenham, who have to operate on a shoestring budget by comparison, and Madrid were able to basically treble his wages.

That's a very potent lure.

Also, I'll be the first to admit that Chelsea were a more powerful club at the time. Regularly in the CL (while we were still fighting to get there), regularly in the title race (same story). Being Chelsea's best player was a different prospect than only being Tottenham's best player, in terms of transfer acquisition.

If they truly thought Bale was one of those players, then they would've bought him irrelevant of club.

Then why haven't they bought anyone from Chelsea, City or even United since 2009, despite those teams winning titles regularly and featuring some of the best players in the world at the time, whereas they've bought 2 players from Tottenham in the same period?

It's because it's not as easy to buy from a fellow super-rich club, if THEY don't want to sell, and there's no way City would have let go of Aguero or Chelsea would have let go of Hazard.

The reason they haven't bought Hazard is as simple as there's no place for him to start.

There was when they bought Bale, and again, most people wrote Bale off as not being worth it because he was only British, and only from Tottenham. In fact, there was nowhere else for Madrid to look, really, for a player of suitable quality other than the Premier League clubs who were not already super-rich.

If they truly thought Bale was one of those players, then they would've bought him irrelevant of club.

Then why haven't they bought anyone from Chelsea, City or even United since 2009, despite those teams winning titles regularly and featuring some of the best players in the world at the time, whereas they've bought 2 players from Tottenham in the same period?

It's because it's not as easy to buy from a fellow super-rich club, if that club doesn't want to sell, and there's no way City would have let go of Aguero or Chelsea would have let go of Hazard. What could Madrid really have offered Hazard that he wasn't getting at Chelsea, considering he'd just won the title, gotten to a CL semi with the Blues and was probably on just as much money as Madrid could offer anyhow?

By contrast, Bale was switching from a 5th-placed team who were still trying to get into Europe, can't pay him very much and need to pay off a new stadium. Chelsea don't need the transfer fee. Tottenham did.

Hence: transfer.

The reason they haven't bought Hazard is as simple as there's no place for him to start.

There was when they bought Bale, and again, most people wrote Bale off as not being worth it because he was only British, and only from Tottenham. In fact, there was nowhere else for Madrid to look, really, for a player of suitable quality other than the Premier League clubs who were not already super-rich.