Transfer Balls: Manchester United target Gareth Bale and Andre Villas-Boas head to Barcelona (so they say)
THE Daily Bale – a look at the Tottenham Hotspur star in the news media. We last featured Bale on July 14, when the Sun said Gareth Bale was off to Manchester united for a fee in excess of £75 million. This followed news that any move to Real Madrid this season was dead.
Now read on…
July 20
Marca leads with news that Los Blancos are in the process of raising funds to buy Bale. But there’s no need to bother. The Daily Star has news:
“EXCLUSIVE: Gareth Bale wants to join Manchester United”
Will they get him?
United are ready to offer £60m in an attempt to take him to Old Trafford, and Tottenham last night refused to comment on whether an official bid had been made.
The Daily Mirror says the bid has been made.
We have been told that United have an “unlimited budget” for players.
Of course, new Spurs singing Paulinho has told us Bale is going nowhere. That’s Bale, the star whose worth this summer has been pitched at £100m, £85m, £80m, £70m, and £50m. Indeed, one paper told us that £100m was not enough to buy Bale.
But United have unlimited money, so here’s the bid for, erm, £60m.
Also telling us that Bale was a Spurs player for the season ahead was Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas. He said:
“The chairman said that we are not open to offers, whatever they are, and that the player will stay.”
But then he added:
“In football anything can happen, but these are the guarantees given to me.”
The Express says Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, ” is reported ready to double Bale’s wages to £150,000-a-week in a bid to keep him happy at White Hart Lane”.
And AVB has just told reporters:
“He’s not for sale at any price. No we haven’t had any conversations. It’s not irritating, I think it’s part of when the market opens. It’s normal that there is speculation everywhere.”
Such as this speculation in the Daily Mail:
Villas-Boas refused to comment on speculation linking him with the Barcelona job, instead sending his best wishes to departing coach Tito Vilanova.
No comment is still a comment:
“It’s a very difficult situation and all of my wishes are with Tito. If he has to resign for a situation of illness it’s not the moment to speak about any speculation whatsoever. It’s not even a question, we are speaking about a person’s health.”
So. AVB hasn’t ruled it out. And, as he told us, there are no guarantees in football – anything can happen. AVB is no fool. He never did get Spurs into the Champions’ League. One more failure and his stock will fall.
But AVB is highly rated by Bale who tells the Evening Standard:
“We [Bale and Villas-Boas] have a great relationship. Last season we had a great campaign and obviously we came up short but we had a great working relationship on and off the field.
“We chatted quite a lot about tactics and stuff like that. He definitely got the best out of me last season and hopefully can again.”
Bale and AVB’s careers seem to be linked.
Look out for news telling us Bale and AVB are off to is Barcelona very soon…
Posted: 20th, July 2013 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
