Gareth Bale is trying to trademark his goal celebration as a personal logo

Gareth Bale has filed an application with the Intellectual Property Office to trademark a logo featuring the heart-shaped hand gesture that he does after scoring goals. It's an odd moving considering the fact that Bale was far from the first player to do it, but to distinguish his trademark request from any others who might have the same idea, he included his No. 11 in the center of the heart-shaped space between the two hands.

Here's the application and the proposed logo...

From this, we can see that Bale has his eyes on some potential merchandising opportunities, including jewelry, leather goods and clothing (the parasols, whips and saddlery options sound especially interesting). Though it remains to be seen how many people would want to own products featuring such a overdone hand gesture, it seems Bale is taking cues from Leo Messi, who unveiled his far superior logo in 2011.

Forget PFA awards and transfer rumors involving Real Madrid and Manchester United, you know a footballer has truly made it in the modern age when he has his own legally binding trademark.