Bale 'to make £3m a year' from patenting goal celebration

The Intellectual Property Office confirmed on Friday that the logo based on his celebration, which includes a number 11 inside a heart shape made of two hands, has now been successfully trademarked following a review by an independent tribunal.

Bale's advisers have plans to introduce the symbol on to a number of products which will be revealed to the public at a later date, with the Wales star set to make millions.

The celebration has been divisive among fans. The heart-shaped symbol was first made popular by Canadian teen heartthrob Justin Bieber, with Bale first incorporating it into his goal celebration in 2010.

He revealed afterwards that he did it as a gesture to his childhood sweetheart Emma Rhys-Jones, with whom he had a daughter last year.

But while fans openly chuckled at the Spurs winger for the gesture, Bale is the one who is laughing now since it will make him up to £3 million a year, at least according to sports marketing expert Nigel Currie of branding agency Rapport.

He said: "The possibilities are huge for Gareth Bale. Once he has that right he can cash in on it and become a more well-known player.

"A third of his overall income could be made from his image rights, potentially up to £3million a year."

Meanwhile, Bale is still hopeful of securing a move to Real Madrid despite Florentino Perez appearing to cast doubt on the deal on Thursday.

Real have maintained a constant public campaign to try to woo Bale this summer, with a number of senior players admitting they would love the Tottenham forward to join them at the Bernabeu.

Real president Florentino Perez appeared to question whether the nine-time European champions would be willing to stump up the world-record fee required to persuade Spurs to sell their prize asset.

"100million euros (£86 million) seems to me like a lot of money, all things considered," Perez said in an interview with ESPN.

Some construed Perez's comments as evidence that Real were going cold on the deal, but sources close to Bale insisted on Friday that talks are still ongoing over a transfer.

With over three weeks left until the transfer window closes, the transfer saga still has plenty of potential to rumble on.

Tottenham reportedly want at least one Real player plus cash in return for Bale, with Portugal left-back Fabio Coentrao the most prominent name mentioned of late.

Bale is expected to sit out Tottenham's friendly against Espanyol on Saturday.

The 24-year-old, like any injured player would, has been taking part in one-to-one sessions as he bids to recover from a foot injury.

But even though he has been selected for Wales' game against the Republic of Ireland next week, Andre Villas-Boas is unlikely to play the forward at White Hart Lane.