“I can’t make any more comments. I don’t want to repeat myself in all press conferences.”
That’s Andre Villas-Boas, displaying his frustration at the constant rumour-mongering that surrounds his charge, Gareth Bale.
Unfortunately, when you’ve got a player like Bale in your team and that man has just firmly established himself as the Premier League’s best player, questions are likely to follow regarding his future. This is particularly true given the claims that Real Madrid are hovering around, waiting to strike.
When it comes to Bale, AVB has been perfectly clear all summer: “He is a player that we are willing to continue to have, he’s a Tottenham player.”
That’s pretty definitive. But despite his protestations, these conversations surrounding Bale are worth having. If Real Madrid are interested and are willing to pay market value for Bale, there will come a stage where Daniel Levy and co. have a tough choice to make.
It’s my feeling that Bale turns Tottenham from a top ten side into a top four side (yes, I realise they just missed out on a Champions League spot last year). In that regard, selling Bale could be seen as a step down.
But this is the wrong attitude to take. Selling Bale would revolutionise the way that Tottenham are able to spend money in the transfer market. With the money that he’d bring in, AVB would suddenly be able to compete for big money marquee signings.
He’d also be able to create a better, more rounded squad. At the moment there’s just too much focus on the Welshman. In particular, Spurs could use a couple of world-class strikers.
It’s also worth considering the inevitability of the whole thing. Bale will move on eventually. It’s only a matter of time. But will he be worth as much next year as he is this year? Given his contract situation, I’m not so sure.
According to The Metro, Real Madrid are willing to offer a massive sum of cash (figures of £85m have been ‘discussed’) with Coentrao thrown into the bargain. In my opinion this is a deal that Tottenham should be considering.
The Portuguese wing-back is a world-class talent (Real Madrid spent 30m euros on him back in 2011) and would certainly be a step up on Tottenham’s current options. If the cash was spent on two new (top) strikers and another defender, Spurs will have an extremely strong squad going into next season.
With that in mind, is it time to bite the bullet and let Bale go?
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I’d love for GB to stay and do agree with the last comments about his family needs come first but you know at 24 his young head is bound to be spinning at the thought of playing in the Bernabeu and being part of El Classico – what player wouldn’t? Mr. Levy of course will have the final say but if GB is to be playing on foreign soil next season let’s get something better than what is reportedly on offer.
I’ve watched Madrid for many seasons now and Coentrao for me is not suited to the EPL and Di Maria will spend a lot of his time on the deck and getting carded – he’ll miss a lot of games through injury and suspensions so no point to having these two. Far better would be 60mln cash and Benzama thrown in – total value say 85mln. Use the cash to get another winger of proven class and abilitiy and you have a rounded front 3 that can compete or give the other top earners at Spurs something to think about and wish GB all the best in his Spanish adventure. Forget us challenging for the top 4 we need to be challenging for the title and selling GB now may just give us the cash impetus to improve us to the point of being able to sustain a challenge over the season and not fade in the second half (which seems to be the norm the last couple of seasons).