A consortium led by Gareth Bale has reportedly submitted a £40 million offer to buy Cardiff City, his home-town club.

The former Real Madrid and Wales legend confirmed his intentions to make a bid to buy Cardiff last week, saying that he is the ideal man to turn the club around after relegation to League One.

The club has dropped to the third tier of English football for the first time since 2002/03 and there were a number of protests against Vincent Tan’s ownership of Cardiff.

Tan has invested more than £200 million into the club since taking over in 2010, but Cardiff have been on a downward trajectory for over five years now.

“We are interested in getting Cardiff. It’s my home club, it’s where I grew up and my uncle [Chris Pike] used to play for them,” Bale said last week.

“To be involved with an ownership group would be a dream come true.

“It is a club close to my heart and I would love to be able to be a part of growing Cardiff and taking it to the Premier League where it belongs. I know how amazing the Welsh fans and Cardiff fans are.

“It would be amazing to try and do something together. We are trying to engage with Cardiff and more news will come out on that in the future, but hopefully we can get something done.”

The makeup of the group led by Bale is unknown but it is thought to include US investors. Last month an initial proposal by Bale’s consortium was reportedly dismissed by Tan.

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