Bale said: “There was one thing that always scared me inside. You read articles about when people finish professional sports, they go bankrupt. They don’t know how to manage their money, they don’t know how to do all these things.

“A lot of, I imagine, athletes live a big lavish lifestyle. I try not to do that. I always had one eye on what life would be like after football. When I finish, I stop getting the pay cheque. How do people then restructure their lives?

“So I was always trying to diversify from quite early on. I always had this pillar idea where I would try and invest my money in different things. If one pillar got chopped down and didn’t work, the whole building is not going to fall down.”

Gareth Bale reveals bankruptcy fears despite earning £600k-a-week at Real Madrid and boasting £120m net worth as Tottenham icon admits avoiding ‘lavish lifestyle’

Ex-Real Madrid star Gareth Bale has claimed he feared going bankrupt during his playing days, despite being handsomely paid throughout his glittering career. Bale won a staggering 20 major trophies as an electric winger and is widely considered to be one of Britain’s best-ever footballers, yet even he still had anxieties over the prospect of somehow blowing away all his money.

The Welshman, who is an avid golfer and can often be found out on a course, rarely spoke to the press candidly while still playing, but after retiring in 2023 he has given more of a glimpse behind the curtain at his personal life. In an interview with Front Office Sports, Bale opened up on how this one particular fear gripped him and how he managed to overcome it by looking to the future.