Playmaker may now be forced to remain at the Lane next season after all.
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Gareth Bale’s long-awaited move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid is in danger of collapsing after the president of the Spanish giants claimed that £85 million was too much to pay for the Welsh wide man, according to reports on ESPN.
The 24-year-old is currently at the centre of a long-running transfer tug-of-war between the north London club and los Blancos, with Bale desperate to make a move to the Santiago Bernabeu during the summer transfer window.
However, so far the two parties have been unable to come to an agreement over a transfer fee for the coveted Wales international, with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy understood to be seeking a sum of 100m euros for his star man.
Madrid president Florentino Perez says that amount, though, is too much to pay for Bale, who last season won the double Footballer of the Year award on the back of netting an impressive 26 goals in just 44 matches for Spurs.
“We talk with lots of people and we will see what happens in all our negotiations, with this player [Bale] and with others,” Perez told ESPN Deportes TV.
“We do not usually talk about other players out of respect to the player, the club and the president, with whom I made a good friendship last season during the signing of Luka Modric.
“If I do not talk about names, I do not talk about money. [But] €100m seems a lot to me, a lot for everything. I do not talk about players nor money because I should not and cannot, out of respect.”
Bale has a current contract at White Hart Lane that runs until June 30 2016 and the north London club value the winger at a figure of £85m, however, it is believed that Levy and head coach Andre Villas-Boas would also be willing to accept players in part exchange for their prize asset.