Martino: Bale fee shows a lack of respect for entire world

Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino has slammed Real Madrid over the reported €100 million transfer fee they are set to pay Tottenham Hotspur for Gareth Bale.

The Santiago Bernabeu side are expected to imminently complete the signing of the Welshman for a world record fee and Martino feels shelling out such an amount of money for one player is borderline offensive in such times of economic crisis.

"How I feel about Madrid signing Bale for about €100m? He is an excellent player, but the fee that's being mentioned shows a lack of respect for the world we live in," Martino said at a press conference.

Madrid already hold the record for most expensive transfer with the €94m they paid Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, but Bale is likely to cost the Liga giants in excess of €100m following Spurs insistence to only sell for an astronomical fee.

The Bernabeu side have yet to finalise the signing of the 24-year-old Bale, but a transfer seems to be a matter of time as they have already prepared a special balcony on which to parade their new signing once the deal becomes official.