Gareth Bale signs £18m-per-year contract extension with Real Madrid as Welsh winger agrees to stay until 2022

• Gareth Bale joined Real Madrid in 2013 for then-world record £85m fee
• Welsh winger has since won the Champions League twice at the Bernabeu
• He has formed a deadly team with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema
• Huge six-year contract extension will keep Bale in Madrid until he is 33
• Agreement confirmed by Real via their website on Sunday morning
• Real Madrid have given Gareth Bale a new contract worth £18million a year that will keep the player at the club until 2022.
   Bale's 'deal-for-life' takes him to June 2022 when he will be 33 and restores him as football's third highest earner back above Neymar who renewed for Barcelona last month.
  Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo remain out in front with net salaries of around 21million euros (£19m) and Neymar's recent deal took him to an estimated 17m euros (£15m). 
  

  
  

  Gareth Bale has put pen to paper on a new deal keeping him at Real Madrid until 2022
  

  
  

  Real confirmed they have tied Bale to a new deal with a short message on their website
  

  
  

  Bale has formed a deadly strike team with Cristiano Ronaldo (right) and Karim Benzema

  Real Madrid have recently given new deals to Luka Modric and Toni Kroos but Bale was the man president Florentino Perez was desperate to keep at the club and Bale will be presented as the player the club intends to build its future around at a press conference at the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday.

  The new contract will put an end to any lingering interest from Manchester United. Ed Woodward had already written off the club's chances of signing Bale next summer because Real Madrid's transfer ban would prevent them buying a replacement.

  But the length of the contract underlines Real's intention of making Bale their new flagship player for long after Cristiano Ronaldo retires.

  Sportsmail understands Ronaldo remains the club's top earner and will have his own deal extended in the coming days as Real complete an overhaul of contracts in the face of their transfer ban.  

  

  Bale will confirm his commitment to Real at a Bernabeu press conference on Monday

  But significantly Bale now moves above Neymar. Bale's back-and-forth pay rivalry with the Brazilian looks set to eventually replace the top-earner battle that has taken place between Ronaldo and Messi for the last six years.

  Neymar was rewarded with a new deal in July to ward off interest from Paris Saint-Germain. He signed his new contract last week amid admissions from France that the Ligue One champions had tried to steal him away from Barca.

  Real Madrid president Perez became more determined than ever to keep Bale after his performances at Euro 2016 made him one of the players of the tournament and a candidate for next January's Ballon d'Or.

  A bonus for winning football's ultimate individual prize is understood to have been included in the new six-year deal.

  GARETH BALE'S CAREER AT REAL MADRID...SO FAR 

  Transfer: Arrived from Tottenham Hotspur on 2013 summer transfer deadline day for a then world record £85million

  Games: 135

  Goals: 62

  Assists: 48

  Trophies: Champions League winner in 2013-14 and 2015-16, as Real beat city rivals Atletico Madrid in the final both times. Has also won the 2013-14 Copa del Rey, the 2014 UEFA Supercup and the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup.

  

  
  

  Bale has won the Champions League twice with Real - in 2014 and 2016 - but not La Liga

  SPAIN'S BIG EARNERS 

  Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £19m

  Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £19m

  Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) £18m

  Neymar (Barcelona) £15m 

  All figures are net (post-tax) annual salaries