Mon 26 Aug 2013 Updated 8 mins ago Home » Football » Gareth Bale finally seals £86m move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid Dream move: Gareth Bale is expected to sign a six-year deal with Real Madrid Picture: PA Tottenham Hotspur have finally agreed the world-record €100million (£86 million) transfer of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid. An official announcement is due to be made as early as Tuesday. Significantly, the agreement involves a straight cash deal with no players coming from Real to Spurs as had been earlier discussed when inquiries were made about striker Álvaro Morata and left-back Fábio Coentrão. Bale is in Malaga, at a villa believed to be owned by another of his representatives, David Manasseh, who works for the Stellar Group which is headed by Barnett. The 24-year old flew into Spain on Saturday, on a private jet, and spent Sunday behind the walls of the gated complex awaiting the green light on the deal. The luxury complex was being staked out yesterday by the expectant Spanish media. RELATED ARTICLES Gareth Bale poised to become a global superstar at Real Madrid, but he was almost let go at 15 by Southampton Tottenham Hotspur 1 Swansea City 0: match report Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas looking to reunite with striker Hulk as Spurs close in on £30m deal He will travel to Madrid for a formal medical and to sign what is expected to be a six-year contract, believed to be worth £8.5million a year before tax, and could also be unveiled at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on Tuesday. A stage has already been erected on the eastern side of the 85,000-seat stadium alongside the directors box. Real play away to Granada on Monday night and are home to Athletic Bilbao next Sunday in what is now expected to be Bale’s debut appearance. The fee beats the £80million record that Cristiano Ronaldo set when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 although it falls short of the €120million (£103million) that Spurs were at one time quoting to let Bale go. Pérez responded by suggesting that €100 million was “a lot” for Bale but Spurs knew he was desperate to sign the player – and was under pressure to do so – despite having written to them this year saying an offer would not be made for now. Real have left the No11 shirt vacant – and the Bale shirt has already apparently gone on sale in the club shop. Spurs, however, have driven a hard bargain in terms of the payment having flatly rejected Real’s terms to cover the fee over the six-year duration of the contract. Instead Spurs have insisted that there are just three staged payments – and have also offered Real the carrot of receiving a significant discount on the total fee if they meet those payments early. Such an offer is not unusual and is a tactic that has been used before by Levy. Conversely should Real be slow in paying up they will be hit by punitive clauses in the transfer which would lead to an increase in the overall fee. Spurs have also played hardball in securing bank guarantees from Real over the payment having earlier expressed concerns as to whether the Spanish giants could fund the deal. There will be relief at Spurs that the deal is going through in advance of the Sept 2 deadline when the transfer window closes. It had been expected that Spurs would delay releasing Bale until they had secured replacements but there was always a will not to let this one go down to the wire. Having missed out on Willian, after the Brazilian attacking midfielder opted to move to Chelsea for £30million – with Chelsea also have reached an agreement in principle to also take striker Samuel Eto’o from the Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala – Spurs are hopeful that they will sign Argentinian international winger Erik Lamela from Roma for around £26million. It is hoped that Spurs will add another forward player, with Zenit St Petersburg’s Hulk a possibility if a fee closer to £30million can be agreed – although that remains a problem – and have also reached agreement to acquire the 23- year-old Romanian international central defender Vlad Chiriches from Steaua Bucharest for around £8million. Spurs were determined that they would not allow the Bale transfer to go to deadline day. The Wales international is believed to often stay in Malaga when he is allowed time off but his flight on Saturday followed the agreement being reached. At one time Levy had been determined to hold on to Bale this summer and had told Spurs’ head coach Andre Villas-Boas that he would not be sold. However that was in anticipation of a Real offer of around £60million. Having offered a world-record fee, and with the significant game-changer that Bale himself pleaded for a move and indicated he was determined to leave, it then became an issue of agreeing the details. Having initially negotiated solely on a cash price Spurs decided that they want to explore the possibility of taking players from Real. The club reasoned that a pile of money in the bank was no good to them if they were going to weaken their squad. However these talks broke down after Real’s valuation on their players – also including winger Ángel di Maria – was deemed too high. Spurs then set about ensuring their secured players they wanted such as Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Étienne Capoue and, hopefully, Lamela, Chiriches and one other – to add to Paulinho. Spurs and furious that they missed out on Willian with the Brazilian having already undergone a medical after the club believed they had agreed terms.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 05:41:07 +0000
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