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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
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Gareth Bale to Tottenham: Mauricio Pochettino refuses to rule out Spurs transfer bid for Real Madrid star

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that Tottenham could be trying to sign Gareth Bale from Real Madrid, but is in the dark over whether Daniel Levy has made a move.

Zinedine Zidane confirmed in the early hours of Sunday morning that Real are actively trying to sell Bale, and said that the former Spurs star is "very close" to exiting the Bernabeu for another team - but would not reveal the identity of the club.

Bale's agent labelled Zidane a "disgrace" for publicly revealing the Wales star is set to leave the club. Bale was left out of the squad for Real's 3-1 defeat against Bayern Munich in a pre-season fixture in Houston on Saturday, fuelling speculation that he was about to depart after six years with the Spanish giants.

Zidane had said: "We hope he leaves soon. It would be best for everyone.

"We are working on his transfer to a new team."

(AFP)

Bale's wages are understood to be in the region of £600,000-a-week - a figure Spurs are extremely unlikely to be able to (or want to) match, but reports in Spain suggest that the north London club would be willing to pay half the forward's salary, with Real paying off the other half in a bid to move him off the books.

Speaking to reporters after Spurs' 3-2 International Champions Cup win over Juventus in Singapore, Pochettino said of Bale: "At the moment I don’t have any information from my chairman.

"I don’t know if we are [in for him] or it’s another club."

Pochettino added: "I saw in the media but I do not know which club is going to sign him. I do not know if it is us or another club. It is the job of my chairman to build the best possible club."

More to follow.

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