Official confirmation of Bale signing for Real Madrid is now just hours away. According to reports by 'Cadena Cope', Real Madrid and Tottenham have reached an agreement for the Welshman's transfer.

The fee for Bale makes him the most expensive player in football history, overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Real for more than €90 million from Manchester United. Though Tottenham tried to dig in its heels, once Bale made plain his desire to move to the Bernabéu, the story was only ever going to end one way.

Tottenham has taken the necessary steps to close the deal. It does not want Coentrao to form part of the transaction, because Levy only wants cash. Willian, currently at Anzhi and who plays in the same position as Bale, has already committed to joining the English club.

With the arrival of Soldado and the Brazilian, only one piece is missing to finish off the puzzle – Lamela. Tottenham hopes to reach an agreement with Roma and announce the Argentinean's arrival.

That will be the moment when Bale can consider himself a new Real Madrid player. His unveiling will take place next week.

(link -http://www.marca.com/2013/08/22/en/football/real_madrid/1377184411.html)

Finally:D

stupid....

With Bale’s arrival at Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez now has his big-name starting XI. Pérez has signed 11 'galácticos' during his two terms as Real Madrid president, for an amount totalling €572m.

There goes Tottenham's champions league dream?

@man_utd maybe not, Arsenal is not that strong, if Paulinho and Soldado perform as good as they are used, i think spurs will finish 4TH.

It still hasn't happened yet btw. ;)

Madrid were forced to close their website yesterday to correct the Bale shirt part.

This was, on Wednesday night, 'only hours away'. Then it was 'on Friday'. Now it's 'on Saturday'.

Still waiting for anything official, considering when asked last night, AVB said there was no deal with Madrid over Bale.

If this fails to happen, a lot of people are going to look pretty stupid. ;)

@lodatz, a lot of people meaning the people at Madrid. It's hard not seeing it happening though.

@lodatz its done.
Following two months of tough negotiations, the endless saga that Gareth Bale's
signing to Real Madrid has become is at an end. And the outcome, as it
could only be given the player's resounding decision, is that the
Welshman will end up wearing white. Real and Tottenham reached an
agreement for the transfer of the Premier league's top footballer for
£85 million, which equates to €99 million, with payment being made in a
number of instalments.

I know you took that from Marca, because an article on another site had already commented on Marca's piece, pointing out that he already plays in white. ;)

Look, it probably is happening, I don't deny that. But I'm still not prepared to accept it just because Marca says so.

If Bale was asked by Spurs to keep quiet during all this, then he's been a model professional. I of course would wish him well at Madrid, but I'm not giving up until I see it on an official site!

(besides, there are a number of rumours doing the rounds that the deal is off because we're not getting WIllian...) O:)

I heard about Willian that he will go to Chelsea, Mourinho said so. But nothing is official yet, wait & see.
@lodatz marca is pro-real and very biaised sometimes, but they can't say that without a reason.

"but they can't say that without a reason."

They say nearly everything without a reason. Marca is a comic book.

Here you go Lodatz, now don't go around asking for more official sources. This is 100% confirmed top secret source.

No point in arguing about whether this is true or not. We have to wait for official announcements. lol.

@FredTilson I just loollled :D

@Fred: Don't lie, you just got that from Marca.

i think barca fans should be scared right now because if he joins us then you know nobody can stop us CR7 + GB11

Ha ha, Fred. :p

But, seriously, let's recap over Marca's ongoing lie-fest, this summer:

First they splashed it all over their front pages, mid June, that the deal was 'done', and that Tottenham were only waiting until after the Confederations Cup, so that they sign Paulinho as a replacement. (yes, they actually claimed that).

Then they, in early July, trotted out some nonsense quote about him being 'angry' at Tottenham, quoting him as saying that he felt he'd been 'promised' that Spurs would agree to listen to offers for him if they failed to make the CL. Well, those quotes were actually, WORD FOR WORD verbatim the exact same quotes they used for Modric, the year before.

Then they claimed that Levy and Perez were meeting in Miami to discuss the final details of the deal. Twice. Except for the fact that no such meeting ever took place, and Levy was not even in Miami either of those times. He was in Croatia.

And what about this stage, that they've erected at the Bernabeu, supposedly to welcome Bale? Um, reports reveal that it's actually the stage they used for the Raul tribute match, instead.

Oh, and remember how, on Wednesday, the deal was going to be wrapped up in a matter of hours? Then it got pushed back to Thursday. Then Friday. Then Saturday. Now next Tuesday. Wow, it's almost enough to make one wonder if this is even actually happening in the first place, and if these so-called journalists are merely speculating and taking bets upon it.

But, but, what about these pictures they've revealed of Bale in Marbella, simply waiting for the signing?? Oh, those are funnily enough the pictures that were taken at the beginning of July when he was on holiday there.

In fact, Every. Single. Thing that Marca have claimed, all summer long, has been bullshit. Not a single thing they've stated has been true. Not one. And since half the British press are merely regurgitating whatever Marca put out, forgive me my skepticism....

Look. It may well happen. Of course I understand that. But since the entirety of this summer has been spent watching the media try to INVENT the news, rather than report it, when it comes to Bale, I'm still hanging in there. I'm still waiting for something, anything official.

Until we hear otherwise from the official sites, Bale is still a Tottenham player. We have no need to sell for the money, Real Madrid don't even HAVE the money, no-one knows what Bale wants because he's said NOTHING to anyone, and Spurs have just been handed the perfect excuse (and yes, of course it would be simply an excuse) to call it all off, with this Willian silliness.

So, while I of course will be hardly be amazed if Tuesday brings us an official announcement of sale, in turn don't be amazed if September 2nd comes and passes, and Bale's still rocking the chicken badge.

I'm hoping the football gods decide to do the right thing, this time.

Why did Bale not play against Swansea ??

Because he has an ankle injury, and we knew two weeks ago that he'd be out?

You know, Holtby didn't make the bench either. ZOMG WE'RE LOSING HOLTBY TOO....

:p

"Tottenham and Roma have reached the agreement for Lamela: 30m € +5m € add-ons"
-Tancredi Palmeri - very reliable Serie A journo