IN BRIEF (Page 23)

Soccer

ZZ: Real's Bale deal too much

It was "incomprehensible" that Real Madrid paid Tottenham Hotspur 100 million euros ($131.9 million) to sign forward Gareth Bale as no player is worth that amount of money, Zinedine Zidane said on Sunday. Zidane, who is now Carlo Ancelotti's assistant coach at Real, joined the nine-time European champion in 2001 for a then record fee. "Ten years ago I was bought for 75 million euros ($98.7 million) and I said I was not worth this," Zidane told French TV channel Canal Plus. "Now I would think that a player is not worth this. It's football, and unfortunately it's incomprehensible with what is happening to pay so much."