IF ever proof were needed that the football world has gone totally bonkers, Gareth Bale’s world record transfer to Real Madrid has provided it.

The tedious summer-long saga surrounding the Welsh international’s move from Tottenham was finally brought to a conclusion with an eye-watering £85 million fee agreed between the two clubs.

Quite frankly, that’s an obscene amount of money, as is the reported £300,000-a-week Bale will be earning at the Bernabeu.

Every year, the figures get even more ludicrous and, if the latest transfer window is anything to go by, don’t look like reducing any time soon.

It’s now just a matter of time before the world’s first £100m footballer.

It seems FIFA’s financial fair play edict has done little to deter clubs spending the equivalent of the national debt of a small nation.

Less supply and demand, more greed and power.

But the main winner in all of this, apart from Bale’s bank balance, is Tottenham. They have managed to fund the arrival of four players for the money the 24-year-old has gone for, and could well be stronger for it.

Bale is a fantastic talent but no one player is bigger than a club and Spurs have cashed in handsomely on their prized asset.