Villas-Boas insists Bale will remain at White Hart Lane this summer.
Andre Villas-Boas has insisted that Gareth Bale will remain at Tottenham regardless of whether the club qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Spurs are locked in a fierce three-way battle with London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal for a place in the top four and currently sit fifth, two points behind the Gunners but with a game in hand.
Sensational Bale was named Football Writers’ Player of the Year on Thursday, having already been voted PFA Player and Young Player of the Year last week.
The 23-year-old has been linked with a £60m plus move to Real Madrid if Spurs fail to qualify for UEFA’s premier club competition but head-coach Villas-Boas said he had been assured Bale would stay at White Hart Lane whatever happened.
“The information that I have from the club, which was mistakenly written about last week, is that the player is here to remain independent of the objectives of Champions League qualification being achieved or not,” the 35-year-old told the Tottenham Journal.
“This is the information I have, which I have shared with you through all of the season.
“We understand that the more awards the players gets, the more recognition and media attention he will have, but the club has to move forward by holding onto its best players. With the recognition and the further experience that he has had from this year, he will be even more assertive for Tottenham next year.”
Asked if he would be surprised to lose Bale during the summer, Villas-Boas replied: “I would be extremely surprised but this is the assurance I have. In the end in football anything can happen, it’s impossible to predict, but these are the assurances I have from the club.”
The Portuguese said that the Wales international, who has 24 goals for Spurs so far this term, fully deserved his awards and insisted that Bale’s accolades would not go to his head.
“I think it’s been another recognition of the season that he’s had,” said Villas-Boas. “It also means a lot to all of us, to his colleagues for helping him to achieve it. We’ve been full of praise for what he’s done and he fully deserves it.
“Will it go to his head? No I don’t think so. You see the way he has thanked his players, his colleagues, for letting him achieve those two awards.
“He goes into a select group which has won both awards in the same year, and the Player of the Year award twice.
“It’s wonderful for him to be able to recognise his colleagues in a moment when he is being recognised as an individual, and we’re also happy to see Jan Vertonghen make the Team of the Season.”
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