Gareth Bale is one of the most promising young talents in the Premier League, and is regarded as one of Europe's hottest football properties.Born in 1989, Bale first attracted the attention of Southampton FC at the age of just nine. At secondary school, he was such a prodigious talent that his PE teacher, Gwyn Morris, had to impose special restrictions on him to make it fair for the other pupils. After completing his GCSE exams, Bale became the second-youngest player ever to sign for Southampton on 17 April 2006.The Premier League soon came calling and in 2007 Bale signed a four-year deal with Tottenham Hotspur. His career at White Hart Lane didn't get off to the best start, but in late 2009 he seized his chance to secure a regular place in the first team and has since proved to be a top-class footballer with a stunning hat-trick in Tottenham's Europa League tie against Inter Milan at the San Siro and a man-of-the-match performance in the return leg.Bale has unsurprisingly also made several appearances for Wales, and his talent has been compared to that of the legendary Ryan Giggs. He's fast, he's strong, he's an excellent and he scores goals. This is the fascinating biography of Tottenham's latest superstar player.

Gareth Bale is the future of Real Madrid and the beating heart of the sensational Wales national side. Although always an exceptional athlete, at one time it seemed like Bale s terrible injury record would stop him from ever fulfilling his potential. But in the season of 2012-2013, he caught fire for Tottenham Hotspur and never looked back, bagging a PFA Player of the Year Award and a move to the world s biggest club. His transfer to Real Madrid made him the world s most expensive player, and his life changed forever. This revealing portrait delves into just how the boy from Cardiff went on to become the world s most in-demand player. It also traces how his relationship with the notoriously competitive Ronaldo unfolded and how he has gradually emerged from his teammate s shadow to become Real Madrid s most prized asset, and a Welsh national hero.

He's the best striker in world football today - but also the most controversial. Banned three times for biting opponents - including the shameful episode with Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil - Luis Suarez has also been embroiled in a race row with Manchester United's Patrice Evra and been public enemy number one at the 2010 World Cup after handballing on the line in Uruguay's quarter-final against Ghana.Yet on the field he has brought only goals galore and glory to every team he has played for. At 18 he was in the first eleven at Uruguay's top club Nacional and played a major role in their 2006 league triumph. Then he captained Ajax Amsterdam to Dutch Cup glory in Holland and transformed Liverpool into a titlechasing team in 2013-14. Almost miraculously, Suarez then overcame an ankle injury operation to kill off England with two wonderful goals in the 2014 World Cup.It was the prospect of such remarkable feats that encouraged Spanish giants Barcelona to offer a mind-boggling ?72million for his services in the summer of 2014 - despite his four-month ban for biting Chiellini. Yet what exactly makes this brilliant, but flawed, man tick? What demons lie behind his 'cannibal' acts, his cheating and his frequent bust-ups with fellow pros, and the clubs and managers who fall over themselves to employ him? Just why is Suarez incapable of steering clear from controversy?In this first-ever biography on the Uruguayan superstar, renowned footballing biographer Frank Worrall reveals the good, the bad and the downright ugly traits that define Suarez the footballer and Suarez the man. Here is the inside story of how a troubled boy from a poverty-stricken neighbourhood became the most coveted striker in world football today. How he had to overcome crushing setbacks at every stage of his life: the heartbreak of being abandoned by his father when just a boy, being forced to leave behind his friends in his beloved hometown El Salto for the soulless Montevideo and watching his sweetheart, Sofia, walk away from him.From King of the Kop to World Cup pariah, both hero and villain - this is the full, undiluted story of the footballing phenomenon known as Luis Suarez.