rate these days is that which someone is prepared to pay. They are buying players with the best potential, along with Barca who bought Neymar. With Ronaldo they bought a proven, finished, article, who had already done it on the biggest stage.
Bale had flashes of brilliance in the CL, but a certain Paul Vaessen did Juventus for us back in the day, John Hartson scored in a Euro final, so those can be one off's that you can't measure until you see him in there with a team that has a fair chance of winning. I wish him well. Of course, you know he's gonna murder one of us in the CL this year.