Villas-Boas scotches talk of Bale £50m deal with Real
TOTTENHAM manager Andre Villas-Boas has reiterated the club have no intention of selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid this summer, despite reports in Spain that the forward has agreed a bumper €60m (£51.6m) contract to move to the Bernabeu.
Uncertainty over the Player of the Year’s future reared its head again yesterday when Spanish newspaper Marca reported that personal terms had been agreed on a six-year deal between Bale and Real.
But Villas-Boas insists the Wales star, who scored 31 goals for club and country last season and has three years left on his current Spurs contract, is going nowhere.
“He is a player that we are willing to continue to have, he’s a Tottenham player, he’s one of the most fantastic players in the world at the moment and we are counting on him for the future,” he said.
“I want to repeat what I was telling you last season and what I was telling you from the beginning of pre-season so I cannot extend myself.”
Villas-Boas, whose team will be without the injured Bale for this morning’s match against Sunderland in the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong, has also admitted Spurs are still some way from completing a club record deal to sign striker Roberto Soldado from Valencia.
The Spanish club’s president Amadeo Salva met with Soldado’s agent Alberto Toldra and Spurs technical director Franco Baldini on Monday to negotiate a fee for the 28-year-old.
Valencia say Spurs must meet a release clause of €30m (£25.8m) to secure the Spain striker, but Villas-Boas admits a deal is not close.
“Soldado is a player we’ve been following,” he said. “His career speaks for itself. I think he is a great striker but there isn’t any deal at the moment, just interest and conversations.”
Paying Soldado’s release fee would take Tottenham’s summer spending to £50m, but Villas-Boas believes that will not be enough for Spurs to challenge for the Premier League next season.
“Next season we won’t be competing for the title,” he added. “Our responsibility is to go a step closer and qualify for the Champions League.
“Unfortunately last year we failed in our main objective but we are strengthening the squad, making it better and learning from the past to achieve it this time around.”