How I uncovered Bale pursuit when I met him at airport a YEAR before transfer

Who would have thought that the foundations for a world record transfer worth £86 million would be laid in a Balkan city with a population of less than 100,000?

Well, that was the case for Gareth Bale in October 2012.

The then Tottenham star played in the 2014 World Cup qualifier for Wales in the Croatian city of Osijek.

Bale and Wales may have lost 2-0 to Igor Stimac's well-drilled side in Croatia's fourth largest city, but the result came as no surprise.

The result simply proved to be an afterthought to the main event of flying Spurs winger Bale who quickly became the talk of Europe for his electrifying performances for both club and country.

He was no different here and his lung-busting runs once again stood out in a struggling Welsh team.

And I stumbled upon a great sequel that turned out to be the start of Bale's mega-money move to the Bernabeu eleven months later.

At the time I was a journalist for Westgate in Cardiff, providing copy for the nationals.

In addition to archiving for various daily and Sunday newspapers, I was asked to provide post-match analysis for radio station TalkSport.

I agreed to take to the air while we waited to board – at possibly the smallest airport I've ever been to – before flying straight back to Cardiff from Osijek with Chris Coleman's men.

I was on the radio for probably five minutes, ended the call, turned around and saw that everyone else had gone to the plane.

I was literally the last person to leave the departure area and head across the tarmac to the waiting plane.

I looked up and saw Wales's talismanic Bale standing a few steps in front of me.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 was a time when he did not have a bodyguard at his side at all times.

To put his status at the time into context, Barcelona were interested in the speedy wideman last summer, following his emergence under Harry Redknapp and Andre Villas-Boas.

But now there started to be more and more talk about the mighty Real Madrid.

Just an hour before, I was talking to Luka Modric about his good friend Bale with my SunSport colleague Martin Blackburn in the mixed zone of the stadium.

Modric played alongside Bale between 2008 and 2012 before moving from Spurs to Real in his own £30 million deal just three months earlier.

Whispers soon spread in the mixed zone that the stylish midfielder had handed over a Real shirt to his former teammate as a souvenir.

Or maybe a sweetener for a future step!

So quickly back to the airport and I immediately saw that Bale was holding a white plastic bag in his hand.

There was no time to hesitate.

“Is there a Real Madrid shirt in there?” I asked.

Bale replied: “Yes”.

Before I had time to say anything else, Bale walked to the back of the plane and I walked to the back where the rest of the traveling press were assigned their seats.

I couldn't believe my luck. Confirmation of the rumor mill that was swirling after the match.

As I sat down on the flight back to Wales I said to some of my colleagues; “I have an even better follow-up story.”

We already had Modric in the bag beaming that Bale was on par with Cristiano Ronaldo.

The usual come and join plea in journalistic terms.

I remember when Modric was walking through the mixed zone, I kept asking him questions as he walked so we had more quotes for the story.

Maybe a little embarrassing, but we did it.

And it also made it worth staying two nights at the boring and terrible Hotel Silver.

That night, praise rang out from Bale's ears – even in defeat – because you could tell he was a special, world-class talent performing before your eyes.

The defeat all but ended Wales' hopes of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, but Bale was on the rise – and he went on to take his country with them with their heroics in the 2016 Euro 2016 semi-final.

Modric had no doubt that Bale was good enough to play for Real, he wanted him to make the same move to the Spanish capital and it would be a treat to have the best two wingers in the world.

His comments did not go down well with AVB, who instructed the ex-Spurs player to stop interfering in their affairs.

AVB claimed that Bale was not for sale. Of course.

The deal was discussed for months.

The summer of 2013 turned into a Bale transfer saga that came to an end after Spurs chairman Daniel Levy stepped in.

Ultimately, the Welshman, then 24, was paraded in front of 80,000 fans at the Bernabeu on September 1, 2013 as Real's £86 million signing.

Bale may never have reached the heights of Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but the five-time Champions League winner was one of the five best players in world football for quite a period.

He remains British football's biggest export.

And we will always remember Osijek.