Lots to talk about today if you’re a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. Spurs will travel to Lokomotiv Plovdiv for a UEFA Europa League second round qualifying clash tomorrow night. Here is the link to the team news and the Tottenham starting XI prediction for that one.
Spurs manager Jose Mourinho spoke to the media today, to preview this match, and of course, he was asked about the Gareth Bale transfer rumors swirling about. Mourinho trying to sign Bale is an oldie but a goody, a tune we’ve heard many times before, and now it’s back at the top of the playlist.
“Gareth Bale is a Real Madrid player, I don’t comment on players from other clubs,” Mourinho said.
“I tried to sign him for Real Madrid which was not possible. There is no secret on that. I think even Gareth knows that.”
The Special One was rumored to be trying to acquire Bale when he was manager at Manchester United too.
Mourinho won’t say anything more about this transfer narrative, because he doesn’t have to. The player’s agent, Jonathan Barnett already has, telling the media: “Gareth still loves Spurs. We are talking. It is where he wants to be.”
So it’s now most likely a question of not if but when the Welshman moves back to his former club, who broke the world transfer fee record when they sold him to Real Madrid in 2013 for £85.3 million.
Of course, a Gareth Bale sale is complicated by his astronomical salary. According to a Forbes list released yesterday, Bale is the eighth highest paid player in the world
Real Madrid, needing to make big cuts to their wage bill due to the coronavirus pandemic, are reportedly in talks with Tottenham about sharing the cost of Bale’s £600,000-a-week salary.
According to ESPN, Tottenham are ready to pay around £250,000-a-week to sign the 31-year-old. United had been interested in obtaining Bale, but according to multiple reports, they are now already moving on to other targets.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.