Tottenham are interested in bringing Gareth Bale back to north London, according to Spanish outlet Marca.
Bale joined Real Madrid from Spurs back in 2013 for £90million and now they could be looking re-sign him for a little over half that amount.
Marca claim that Spurs would be willing to pay between £45million and £54million for the 30-year-old, who is surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu.
Stumbling block
Bale is on a stunning £600,000-a-week salary and there aren’t many clubs in the world who could match that. Marca claims that Tottenham would be prepared to pay just half of that amount – which would still be 50% more than Harry Kane, the club’s current top earner, is on.
That puts the ball back in Real Madrid’s court – how much would they be willing to pay to move Gareth Bale on? Half of his wages over three years would equate to most of the fee that Tottenham are reportedly willing to pay.
Likely to happen?
Tottenham have been linked with a move before when it was claimed that he had been offered to Spurs for a £10million loan fee and £250,000-a-week of his wages. However, his agent Jonathan Barnett scuppered talk of a loan deal, saying to Reuters: “I don’t think he wants to go out on loan. He’s got a lovely life and home in Spain. I think it would take something exceptional for him to leave and loans are not on the menu.”
Would Tottenham offer something exceptional? There’s no doubt it would be a sensational way for Bale to continue his career, but it seems unlikely on a number of fronts.
For starters, the £300k-a-week would smash the Tottenham wage structure, with Kane on a maximum of £200,000-a-week on the new contract that he signed last summer.
That could cause problems and Bale offers a significant risk on another front too. He hasn’t managed 30 league games for the past four seasons due to injuries.
It’s a huge amount of money to pay for a 30-year-old with an injury history like Bale’s and it would seem totally out of character for Daniel Levy. We remain very sceptical.