Gareth Bale’s dream move to Real Madrid is almost complete, with the Spurs star possibly moving for as high as a world record £105million.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy will have showdown talks with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez in Miami to discuss the world-record transfer.
The deal is almost complete, with Bale desperate to join the Spanish giants, but Spurs are trying to get as much as they can for the Welsh star, a fee which could rise to £105million – smashing the £80million fee Real paid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
Back: Gareth Bale makes his way to the Tottenham training ground on Wednesday morning
Wheeling in: Bale arrived in a Mercedes with his move to Real Madrid getting ever closerBALE WILL COST MADRID £200m
Real Madrid’s world-record attempt to sign Gareth Bale will end up exceeding £200million once the transfer fee, wages and agents costs are added up.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is holding out for an astonishing £105million up front for the Welshman. After that there are fees to be paid to other go-betweens in the deal, as well as the player’s agent – which should reach millions.
Bale’s wages – which would amount to £150,000-a-week after tax – come in at £7.8million every season. The proposed contract is six years, which equates to total pay day of £46.8million.
With the tax rate in Spain standing at 52 per cent, it means an extra £48million will be taken out of Bale’s pay packet, which would stand at £94.8million gross.
That means before agents’ fees have been agreed, the combined cost to Carlo Ancelotti’s side is £199.8million.
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Real only want to pay £100million for Bale, but Perez wants to get his man no matter what and the Madrid chief is aware Spurs want more.
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has refused to talk attempts to sign Bale after irking Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas by declaring in a press conference last week his side were ‘negotiating and trying to find a solution to the situation’ with regards to the Wales international.
‘I won’t speak about Bale, because I have already angered him (Villas-Boas) and I don’t want to anger another coach,’ the Madrid boss said.
‘I didn’t say anything in particular and I prefer not to talk about this.’
The crunch talks come after Spurs director Sir Keith Mills admitted the club cannot stop their star man leaving.
Mills told the Evening Standard: ‘If a player is desperate to leave, it’s very difficult to force him to stay. We’ve seen it in other clubs. Even if he has a contract, you can’t force somebody to play for you.’
Spurs reacted to uproar over the club changing the picture on their official Twitter profile, removing a photo of Bale.
The picture also contained Clint Dempsey, who has left White Hart Lane for the Seattle Sounders, and has been replaced with an image of Mousa Dembele and Aaron Lennon.
The club then scotched the idea the change meant anything, tweeting: ‘Changing our Twitter background seems to have created a bit of a frenzy. With Clint leaving the Club, it was time for an image change. Gareth was on that background too. Did anyone notice? We change our social media backgrounds regularly and feature all players.’
They followed this on Wednesday morning by posting: ‘We might change our Twitter background image again – hope nobody reads too much into it. WARNING: another change is coming! #THFC’.
On his way? Bale is moving ever closer to to Real Madrid, and could cost as much as £105million
Real money: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez wants to pay ‘only’ £100million for the Welsh starMeanwhile, Spurs midfielder Iago Falque became the first Tottenham player to speak out about the transfer, saying he believes the Welshman would benefit from the move.
Falque, who was on loan at Almeria last season, suggested Bale should move to the Bernabeu.
‘It will depend on how he adapts, and other factors, but he has every attribute to triumph at Real Madrid,’ he said.
‘He also has a lot of hunger because he still hasn’t won the Ballon d’Or, and players like him never lose their ambition.
‘I think Madrid is the right club for him because their style of play suits him perfectly, much more than Barcelona’s would do.
‘About two weeks ago he stopped training with the team because he is injured. I think his situation is not easy. It’s clear there is a great interest of Madrid.’
Bale’s new boss? Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti refused to discuss the transfer after angering AVB (below)
Timing: Spurs’ Twitter page before (top) and the new version, without Bale (below)
