Gareth Bale is undoubtedly a player of very high quality and accustomed to the league, so the frantic pace and physicality won't be a huge transition for him. But a couple of things concerning a potential transfer to United give me pause.
As has been stated before, he is not the ideal fit for Louis Van Gaal's system. It might not matter with a more pragmatic manager who can tailor his approach to suit the players at his disposal (like Fergie or Ancelotti), but under Van Gaal, the scheme is paramount, with individual player characteristics even taking the backseat at times - this a big reason why even some obviously world-class players wilt under the command of the at times uncompromising Iron Tulip.
Bale's biggest strengths are his speed in space, shooting - both from a distance and inside the box, and power, which can be a devastating combination when he's not overly burdened by tactical instructions - but rather given the freedom to express himself in a more counter-attack oriented approach. Problem is that Van Gaal usually professes a more deliberate, passing based approach where each player is a cog in the whole setup and can execute the gameplan efficiently and Bale might not fight in with his overall vision. One does wonder how effective Bale will be under Van Gaal when a lot of his strengths will be subdued, will an 80 % Bale be equally effective overall in our gameplan ?
Some might counter that with the fact that Robben was a pacy centerpiece for Van Gaal at both Bayern and with the Netherlands national team. But there is a fundamental difference in their playing styles - Arjen is a more technical dribbler of the ball who aside from having a great burst, has very delicate control of the ball in closer areas/ when pressed; as opposed to Bale who relies more on momentum based dribbling to get by players, something that can be stifled by denying him the space to operate in (as has happened at times in Spain). Robben aside from being a consistent goalscorer, plays a prominent role in Bayern's buildup play - much like Ribery though to a lesser degree. His short and long passing apart from being more accurate, is a level above Bale in terms of creativity with quality through balls, clever interplay and better overall field vision. And in line with Van Gaal's preference for having consummate playmakers in wider areas - his volume of passes regularly stands in the ~50 region which is a very good return for a winger, as opposed to Bale who has almost half the amount of touches at ~30.
Also the prices being bandied about are insane. Since the transfer to Madrid, he's worse for wear, has been under-performing, apparently wants out of the club and is unsettled from a personal standpoint, has had lingering health issues - and we're supposed to pay a world record fee despite him obviously being in a worse off situation than he was while at Tottenham ? Nah. Fair enough, it's not the supporters' money and we shouldn't really care. But the deal might set another dangerous precedent, which would only add to the impression that United regularly overpays for players from an investment vs performances standpoint compared with the likes of Bayern who extracted fabulous value for the likes of Robben and Ribery. If anything, we should pay £20 million less than what Madrid paid to Tottenham (a more respectful and appropriate fee), considering the player's diminished profile.
