Gareth Bale

[Riandor]

Right where were we? Oh, not getting hopes up? Pfffffffffff....

I say it's doable, question is, does Bale want to? Does Levy want to stump up cash?
Bale knows Levy, he knows what contract he would get and what he won't. I think this all depends on whether Bale sees a return to the EPL as a homecoming with opportunity, or a failure. He might simply decide to stay and fight for his place.

 

[C0YS]

Kane, Dele, Alderweireld, probably Lloris would all have reason to claim that they are among the very best in their positions. If they expect more (not necessarily equal to Bale), then Eriksen, Wanyama, Vertonghen, and the rest of our first team players would be within reason to expect an increase too.

I'd love Bale to come back. Whilst we're at it I'd love for us to compete with the oil clubs when it comes to wages too. We've done brilliantly to punch above our weight, but as we're seeing with Walker there comes a point when success leads to players reevaluating their worth.

Stick Bale in the middle of that and it's going to cause problems. It's completely unrealistic and I don't believe the ITK stuff on this one in the slightest.

Plus I actually had rare ITK on United a few years ago, and I know for a fact that he has been their top target as the natural replacement for Giggs, and that their people were certainly very close to him even after the Madrid transfer. Out of the loop now but I doubt they've changed their stance much. That ITK came from a family friend of Giggs, who told me what Giggs himself had said. It was United that even pushed him to switching to No.11 as part of their marketing, only for Madrid to blow them out of the water. If he comes back to England I'm convinced that he'll go to United.

Its irrelevant, we obviously can't afford Bale, but if we match Man utd's bid, they would have to sell to us, then its up to Bale to turn us down before Man utd is even in the picture.

Its a bit different anyway than that situation Man utd finished the season before Bale left 2nd we finished 5th, this season its basically the reverse.

 

[SpartanSpur]

Kane, Dele, Alderweireld, probably Lloris would all have reason to claim that they are among the very best in their positions. If they expect more (not necessarily equal to Bale), then Eriksen, Wanyama, Vertonghen, and the rest of our first team players would be within reason to expect an increase too.

I'd love Bale to come back. Whilst we're at it I'd love for us to compete with the oil clubs when it comes to wages too. We've done brilliantly to punch above our weight, but as we're seeing with Walker there comes a point when success leads to players reevaluating their worth.

Stick Bale in the middle of that and it's going to cause problems. It's completely unrealistic and I don't believe the ITK stuff on this one in the slightest.

Plus I actually had rare ITK on United a few years ago, and I know for a fact that he has been their top target as the natural replacement for Giggs, and that their people were certainly very close to him even after the Madrid transfer. Out of the loop now but I doubt they've changed their stance much. That ITK came from a family friend of Giggs, who told me what Giggs himself had said. It was United that even pushed him to switching to No.11 as part of their marketing, only for Madrid to blow them out of the water. If he comes back to England I'm convinced that he'll go to United.

Oh yeah, it's absolutely obvious that Utd would pull out all of the stops to land him, they are all in on him.

On the wages point, I do think there are levels. I doubt Pique or Ramos are on the same as Ronaldo/Bale or Messi/Neymar (happy to be proved wrong as haven't researched it) even though they are key players, especially the latter.

Right now only Kane in my book could have a claim for parity with Bale if he came in, but even that would be a push IMHO.

Fully agree with the raises rather than parity though.

 

[hughy]

• Doesn't fit the style of player Pochettino likes

Is this really a factor when you're talking about someone who is only 28 and has two Champions League winners medals?!

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Gareth Bale will be celebrating his 28th birthday in 9 days.

Wow, time fly's! Still, I think if we were in a position to afford him (which we're not) I dont think it would be a problem.

 

[Gbspurs]

On the subject, I'm not sure that you'll ever be able to show me a more impressive highlight video, purely for the sentimental value of some of these goals.



The human condition will always leave us seeking more, and I'm not sure if all of us truly appreciate how great he was.

Dat assist at 08:08 tho...

 

[doctor stefan Freud]

This is, I feel, the household name mentioned by itk weeks ago. If so, that's really disappointing because we're never going to sign him. I'm not buying this for a single second. We priced him out of our league when we sold him to Madrid. If he goes anywhere, it's to a club like Utd who will readily and easily match his 300K a week wages. The worst part of this is that it comes off the back of other itk telling us Levy has excellent PR staff. I respect Levy for getting us where we are but equally you'd be a fool to believe this shit

 

[Spurger King]

Oh yeah, it's absolutely obvious that Utd would pull out all of the stops to land him, they are all in on him.

On the wages point, I do think there are levels. I doubt Pique or Ramos are on the same as Ronaldo/Bale or Messi/Neymar (happy to be proved wrong as haven't researched it) even though they are key players, especially the latter.

Right now only Kane in my book could have a claim for parity with Bale if he came in, but even that would be a push IMHO.

I'm not talking about parity. Pique and Ramos will be on a hell of a lot more than Kane and Dele. That's where the problem lies. Our top players wouldn't expect the same wages as Bale, but they would expect more money. Especially if they end up contributing more, which isn't unlikely.

That then has a knock-on effect on the rest of our first team. Do you think Vertonghen would be happy to stay on the same wages if Alderweireld gets a 25% wage increase, Kane gets a 50% increase, and Bale is still on at least twice as much as anyone else?

 

[Spurger King]

Its irrelevant, we obviously can't afford Bale, but if we match Man utd's bid, they would have to sell to us, then its up to Bale to turn us down before Man utd is even in the picture.

Its a bit different anyway than that situation Man utd finished the season before Bale left 2nd we finished 5th, this season its basically the reverse.

I doubt Bale gives a shit about recent past league positions. Do you think he's more likely to go to Leicester or City?

 

[holsten777]

Don't want him. We would win the league too easy if we just started spunking money like clubs who give lingard 100k a week. In context, our achievements in the last two years have been amazing. Would be incredible to go one better next year. Keep things as is. Well run proper football club. Proud to be be a supporter. Don't cave Daniel.

 

[C0YS]

This is, I feel, the household name mentioned by itk weeks ago. If so, that's really disappointing because we're never going to sign him. I'm not buying this for a single second. We priced him out of our league when we sold him to Madrid. If he goes anywhere, it's to a club like Utd who will readily and easily match his 300K a week wages. The worst part of this is that it comes off the back of other itk telling us Levy has excellent PR staff. I respect Levy for getting us where we are but equally you'd be a fool to believe this shit

Firstly, we wont ever match his wage, but there are other ways to get it payed. If Madrid want rid, madrid can make it clear to him, Bale will then probably accept a cut though not a big one. We can hook up sponsorship but also, we can get Madrid to pay for most of it. Like they did for Van der Vaart, in exchange we could offer them say first refusal on Kane and Dele Alli?

 

[C0YS]

I doubt Bale gives a shit about recent past league positions. Do you think he's more likely to go to Leicester or City?

So he only cares about money? Or will he pick somewhere where he is more likely to win things?

 

[Spurger King]

So he only cares about money? Or will he pick somewhere where he is more likely to win things?

Why turn it into a choice between one or the other? Bale's an incredible player. I'd imagine he'd think joining most clubs would make them more likely to win things.

 

[C0YS]

I'm not talking about parity. Pique and Ramos will be on a hell of a lot more than Kane and Dele. That's where the problem lies. Our top players wouldn't expect the same wages as Bale, but they would expect more money. Especially if they end up contributing more, which isn't unlikely.

That then has a knock-on effect on the rest of our first team. Do you think Vertonghen would be happy to stay on the same wages if Alderweireld gets a 25% wage increase, Kane gets a 50% increase, and Bale is still on at least twice as much as anyone else?

On a side note, this is part of the point of a new stadium, right now to comply to financial fair play we cant really match wages of other club, new stadium will mean we can match them. I mean we could do it, theoretically, and give people a wage hike whether the stadium cost mean that it financially isn't clever is another question.

 

[C0YS]

Why turn it into a choice between one or the other? Bale's an incredible player. I'd imagine he'd think joining most clubs would make them more likely to win things.

No but, will Bale hold out for Man utd, even if he was talking to us on a table and we hypothetically gave him a very good wage?

 

[Joshua]

I'd like him back cause I'd quite like us to win the league.

 

[Spurger King]

No but, will Bale hold out for Man utd, even if he was talking to us on a table and we hypothetically gave him a very good wage?

Again, where does that leave the rest of our squad?

We could pay Bale £5m a game if we wanted to, but he'd be playing alongside anyone we could grab from the local pubs.

 

[Joshua]

Again, where does that leave the rest of our squad?

We could pay Bale £5m a game if we wanted to, but he'd be playing alongside anyone we could grab from the local pubs.

That's basically what he was doing in his last year here.

 

[Spurger King]

On a side note, this is part of the point of a new stadium, right now to comply to financial fair play we cant really match wages of other club, new stadium will mean we can match them. I mean we could do it, theoretically, and give people a wage hike whether the stadium cost mean that it financially isn't clever is another question.

Financial fair play means nothing these days, and the extra stadium revenue will be paying for the stadium for a long time.

 

[SpartanSpur]

I'm not talking about parity. Pique and Ramos will be on a hell of a lot more than Kane and Dele. That's where the problem lies. Our top players wouldn't expect the same wages as Bale, but they would expect more money. Especially if they end up contributing more, which isn't unlikely.

That then has a knock-on effect on the rest of our first team. Do you think Vertonghen would be happy to stay on the same wages if Alderweireld gets a 25% wage increase, Kane gets a 50% increase, and Bale is still on at least twice as much as anyone else?

Must have crossed with my edit. Yes I do agree there and it's why it just seems impossible.