Adriano Galliani has admitted AC Milan's admiration of Tottenham's man of the moment Gareth Bale.
But Welsh star would be priced out of a bid from the Italian giants
Adriano Galliani has admitted AC Milan's admiration of Tottenham's man of the moment Gareth Bale.
The Welsh wide-man scored a superb second-half hat-trick at the San Siro on Wednesday night as 10-man Spurs came from 4-0 down to lose 4-3 against Milan's city rivals Inter.
Bale's performance thrust him to the attention of the whole of Europe, and although Galliani insists he has been on Milan's radar for some time, he admits the 21-year-old would probably be beyond their spending power.
Bale took time to settle at Spurs after making a £5million move from Southampton in May 2007 and the Milan supremo claims he contemplated swooping for the Wales international back then.
"I've always liked Bale, ever since he played for Southampton," Galliani said.
Injury problems
"The right time to take him was when he had several injuries. In fact, I talked of it with (Milan's sporting director, Ariedo) Braida, but then Bale returned to be a fantastic player.
"I think it's hard to bring him to Milan now because he costs too much. Some players need to be taken before they explode."
Milan did that with Brazil international Kaka, signing him from Sao Paulo for £7.5million in 2003 before selling him to Real Madrid for £60m last summer.
The 28-year-old forward has failed to reproduce his top form in Spain but Galliani has ruled out bringing him back to the San Siro just yet.
"Kaka is a player of Real Madrid and will stay there," he said. "It cannot be allowed that he comes back to us, at least for the moment."
