Italian journalist claims deal to take Bale from Spurs to Real is done at last.
Now it’s really closed: Gareth #Bale from @SpursOfficial to @realmadrid for £75M. Let’s wait official confirms. #footballtransfers
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@dimarzio) August 27, 2013
Another day, another journalist claiming the Gareth Bale saga is finally at a close.
Respected journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, who works for Sky Italia and is well-known as something of a transfer expert, says the Welshman is set to join Real Madrid from Tottenham in a £75m deal.
There’s no doubting Di Marzio’s credentials and the Italian has been first with a number of big stories in the past, including breaking the news that Pep Guardiola was set to join Bayern Munich.
Di Marzio has also been on top of almost every Tottenham transfer this summer – perhaps no coincidence given the appointment of fellow Italian Franco Baldini as sporting director at White Hart Lane.
That said, we’ve been hearing for weeks that the Bale deal is done only for the announcement to continue to be delayed.
In fact, exactly a week ago Di Marzio himself claimed the deal was done at £93m. Since then, Bale has holidayed in Spain (reportedly close to where Real chief Florentino Perez was staying), been the subject of a bid from another club (or so say Spurs), returned to the UK and refused to turn up for training.
What’s more, it seems highly unlikely that Daniel Levy would suddenly cave and agree to a £75m deal when all reports indicate that the Spurs chairman is holding out for a world record fee closer to £100m.
Andre Villas-Boas has remained impressively tight-lipped about the Bale saga all summer, giving very little away. But the Portuguese is set to give a press conference at 12.30pm on Wednesday ahead of Spurs clash with Dinamo Tblisi.
If there have been major developments in Bale’s departure, we could know more by this afternoon.
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