Rafael van der Vaart: 'I never thought Gareth Bale would play for Real Madrid'

Rafael van der Vaart has admitted that he was left surprised by Gareth Bale's move to Real Madrid, claiming that the Wales international does not play at the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.

Now plying his trade at Real Betis, the former Los Blancos attacking midfielder played with Bale at Tottenham Hotspur, and while speaking of his time at White Hart Lane, Van der Vaart confessed that he did not expect the 26-year-old's move to the Spanish capital.

"I had two very happy years at Tottenham," he told Canal+. "We had a good side with Bale, [Aaron] Lennon, [Luka] Modric... at Spurs, [Harry] Redknapp always wanted to play with the same system and I played behind [Peter] Crouch. I scored a lot of goals.

"I never thought Bale would end up playing at Madrid. Bale isn't like Ronaldo or Messi; that's another level."

Bale moved to Real in 2013 for a reported world record fee of €100m (£85.3m) and has since scored 41 goals in 99 appearances.