Gareth Bale over world-record move to Real
• 'World-record' deal set to be concluded before transfer deadline
• Tottenham manager criticises Gareth Bale for missing training
• Follow the latest transfer news with our live blog here
David Hytner
Wed 28 August 2013
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André Villas-Boas has admitted that Gareth Bale's transfer to Real Madrid will go ahead and for "world record" money, as he said that only the fine-tuning over the contracts needed to be finalised.
The Tottenham manager betrayed his exasperation at Real's behaviour in recent weeks and, also, that of Bale, who did not report to Tottenham's training ground on Tuesday or Wednesday. Villas-Boas made it clear that he would like to see Bale fined. He also revealed that Bale had said his goodbyes to his team-mates ahead of his £86m move.
The overriding sense from Villas-Boas, though, was that he wanted to move on; to push for the new signings that he hopes will make the squad collectively stronger, in spite of Bale's loss. He has deals in place for the Steaua Bucharest centre-back Vlad Chiriches and the Roma forward Erik Lamela. Chiriches will cost £8m and Lamela around £26m, which would break the club's transfer record for the third time this summer. Tottenham have also made an €8m (£6.9m) bid for the Ajax attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen. The Dutch club want €15m.
"At the moment the two clubs are speaking – Tottenham and Real Madrid – to outline the final decisions or statements of contracts and I am not sure how much time it will take," Villas-Boas said. "It could happen very, very soon. It might not happen so soon so I suppose it could go to the last days [of the window]. Or it could happen in the next two days.
"What's happening is a dream move for him [Bale] so I think in the end, this could have happened in a different way. But Tottenham will be in the end … there will be a three-way agreement for the player to go and Tottenham will accept most likely the biggest transfer in world football. In the end, if Tottenham accept it and everything goes all right, it will be end of story.
"In the end, this is an agreement between everybody. I'm not going to speak from his point of view. He goes to Real Madrid, the biggest club in world football, for the record transfer in world football. We wish him well."
There was, however, an undercurrent to Villas-Boas's comments about Bale, who has not trained fully or played since the middle of July as the transfer has edged closer. The official reason for his absence has been a couple of minor injuries. But Bale has infuriated Villas-Boas by not turning up for training.
"I gave the player the weekend off," Villas-Boas said. "Monday was then a day off for the squad. He is involved in a big transfer move to Real Madrid. In the end, if it happens, we wish him all the best, what he left here is great memories … and the fact that he hasn't turned up … I don't think it's the correct behaviour. But in the end, it's a position of pressure and a statement from the player or whatever that means. It's a position they chose to take. It's up to the club now to decide if it's a fineable offence."
Villas-Boas was asked whether it was important that Bale managed his exit in the correct manner to ensure that the fans remembered his extraordinary efforts in their colours.
"I am a Spurs professional, not a Spurs fan, so you may have to have ask a Spurs fan what are their opinions about the situation," said Villas-Boas, who was also asked whether Bale owed it to his team-mates and manager to say goodbye. "It's very difficult. In the end, you know, difficult. I don't know. It's up to Gareth. He has a good relationship with everybody and he has saluted the players the other day, myself included. "Is he on strike? No, I don't think he's on strike. Will he be in tomorrow? I don't know. I'm not really in control of the situation. I've left it up to the club to decide what they want to do. Until the transfer happens, the player is a Tottenham player. If there are orders for him to be here and he is not, I can only leave it to club officials to deal with it. It's up to the club to decide whether or not it's a breach of club rules. I've given my opinion on it. It's up to them to decide whether they act on it or not."
Villas-Boas also commented on Real's behaviour. He took issue with his counterpart, Carlo Ancelotti, about his talking in public about the proposed transfer and, more recently, there has been anger at Tottenham over Real's accidental advertising of Bale shirts for online sale and the construction of a platform on the Bernabéu pitch for his official presentation.
"I showed my disappointment before and I think Carlo did extremely well because he didn't speak from that moment onwards," Villas-Boas said. "He should have not done it before but the fact is that it was reality and he didn't use any more arguments. They can do whatever they want – whether it's responsible or irresponsible, I don't care."
Villas-Boas now hopes to finalise Tottenham's incoming business. "Our idea is to be stronger than the year before," he said. "If we conclude certain targets that we are looking for, we can be that team. If we conclude other targets, maybe we are not that team.
"I have told you that we will continue restrengthening the squad so we are looking at different positions to make us stronger. Not only those players [that have been mentioned], others as well. In the next couple of days, we will have further news. I think we will see further additions at Tottenham."
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So THFC6061. Do you now finally accept Bale is leaving?
