Napoli chief Riccardo Bigon has revealed how close they came to signing Real Madrid star Gareth Bale. Bigon admits they should've signed the former Tottenham winger almost five years.

"Bale is our big regret," director of sport Bigon told E Azzurro.

"It was 2010, I had just arrived at Napoli and we had an emergency situation on the left flank. We needed a left-footed player and he didn't play much at Tottenham when Redknapp was the manager, so he was available.

"Bale was very young at the time, but we would've had to invest €10m and decided against it. A pity."