Gareth Bale will earn $4 million by not going to the World Cup

Gareth Bale could have played for England, but the Cardiff-born Real Madrid superstar opted to represent Wales instead. So, instead of having a career's worth of disappointing performances at major summer tournaments, Bale will probably never get to play in one of those tournaments.

But failing to go to the World Cup has its advantages. Not only do the extra summer breaks mean that Bale can play until he is 96 years old like Ryan Giggs, but he can earn a stupendous amount of money going on promotional tours instead.

According to The Daily Mail, Bale will be paid £2.5m (just over $4m) to spend a week in Asia doing a promotional tour at the end of the season. The Welshman will visit Indonesia and Singapore, attending a football festival, a charity event and a coaching clinic. Which sounds like a fairly easy way to earn over half a million dollars a day.

Suddenly, being the only Real Madrid player not going to Brazil doesn't seem so bad. Someone ought to tell him to cheer up...

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Ryan Bailey

is a writer for Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter! Follow @RyanJayBailey