Madrid ask journalist not to print Bale fee to keep Cristiano happy

It should come as no surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't like it when his ego is not tickled.

And his feelings over Madrid's decision to sign Gareth Bale back in 2013 were well known. 

Sunday Times football correspondent Jonathan Northcroft explained to BBC Radio 5 that Madrid asked his newspaper not to print Bale's price so as not to antagonise Cristiano.

Bale replaced the Portuguese star as the world's most expensive player when Madrid purchased him for £85million (100m euros).

Northcroft said: "Real Madrid are a club so worried about image that when I interviewed Bale it was requested to me, ‘don’t put in the transfer fee, don't put in the article how much Gareth Bale cost’.

"The reason for that is because it was a world-record transfer fee but Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't like to see that someone else cost more than him.”