MADRID: European champions Real Madrid have confirmed that Wales forward Gareth Bale has agreed a contract extension until 2022.

Bale joined Madrid from Tottenham in 2013 for a then-world record fee of £85.3m, signing a six-year contract at the Bernabeu.

The 27-year-old has scored 62 goals and recorded 34 assists in 135 official games for the Spanish giants, forming part of the team’s much-vaunted ‘BBC’ strikeforce alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.

He has also helped Madrid secure five major trophies during his three years at the club, including winning the Champions League in 2014 and 2016.

The new contract reportedly rewards Bale at a basic rate of £350,000-per-week, making him the world’s highest-paid footballer and leapfrogging Madrid team-mate Criustiano Ronaldo as well as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Bale, who has regularly been linked with a big-money move back to the Premier League with Manchester United, is the latest player to commit his future to Madrid in recent weeks after Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez.

Madrid have been looking to tie down their leading players as they also fight a FIFA transfer ban for breaching rules governing the transfer and registration of players aged under 18.

The club, along with city rivals Atletico, are currently banned from registering any new players in the next two transfer windows – until January 2018 – but have appealed against the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

###########