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Fernando Fernandez-Tapias, Real Madrid’s vice-president has said Tottenham Hotspur are “stalling” the deal to take Gareth Bale to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Los Blancos had hoped to announce the world-record transfer earlier this week with the aim of allowing the Welshman to make his debut at home to Athletic Bilbao this Sunday.

The Madrid side even erected a stage within the stadium in readiness for the player’s presentation – a move that infuriated Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

Speaking to AS, Fernandez-Tapias said the north London side were slowing down the transfer, but the 93 million euro deal would still go through.

“There are problems, but I think it will all be straightened out. We thought he’d be here, but he hasn’t even flown to Madrid yet, although it could still happen,” he stated.

“I think it will happen, but I couldn’t swear to it completely. We have to wait, because Spurs are stalling.”

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Real Madrid won their ninth Teresa Herrera, one of the most prestigious summer tournament in Spain, after scoring three goals in just 16 minutes to beat Deportivo 0-4.

Iker Casillas started the game in the goal after sitting on the bench in the first two league matches, although he was replaced in the 82nd minute by Tomas Mejias.

Real Madrid soon gained the control of the game against the second division side. Kaka scored the first in the 6th minute in a counterattack after receiving an assist by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Alvaro Morata doubled Los Merengues lead in the 12th minute following a brilliant combination between him and Marcelo.

Four minutes later, Isco took a corner and Casemiro scored the third with a nice header, virtually giving Real the victory with 70 minutes to play.

Both teams had chances to score before half-time, but both keepers denied the rival’s efforts.

Morata scored in the second half with Kaka getting the assist, but it was ruled for offside. Deportivo La Coruna tried to reduce the lead, but Casillas had a good performance.

However, the visitors scored the fourth goal in the 85th minute. Jese, who played the whole game, provided Kaka with a brilliant assist and the Brazilian sent the ball to the back of the net.

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The front pages of the two sports papers in Madrid – Marca and AS – are dominated by Real Madrid’s Brazilian playmaker Kaka, who says he wants to leave the club before the end of the transfer window.

The 31-year-old, signed from AC Milan in 2009, told reporters he needs regular first team football and that in order to do so he must make a switch away from the Santiago Bernabeu.

He has ruled out a move to Brazil for now, saying Europe is the best option for him – prompting speculation he may return to his former club.

Elsewhere, there is news that Los Blancos have tied up a deal for Guilherme Siqueira should Fabio Coentrao leave the club before the window closes.

FInally, there is plenty of coverage about the Champions League draw, in which Madrid were drawn with Juventus, Galatasaray and Copenhagen in Group B. The general feeling is that the draw has been kind to Madrid and that Los Blancos should qualify without too many problems.

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Champions League trophy

Real Madrid have been drawn against Juventus, Galatasaray and Copenhagen in Group B of this year’s Champions League.

Los Blancos will be confident of making it through the group although both the Italian and the Turkish sides should provide tricky tests for Carlo Ancelotti’s men.

Real faced Galatasaray in last season’s Champions League at the quarter final stage and received a fright. They scraped through 4-3 on aggregate, losing the away leg 3-2 but securing a 2-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Italian champions Juventus have been shrewd in the transfer market this summer and their forward line of Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente will provide the Real Madrid defender with a test.

Los Blancos will be confident of taking six points off group minnows Copenhagen as they go in search of their 10th Champions League.

The first matches will take place on the 17th/18th September. This year’s Champions League final will take place at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on May 24th.

Group B
Real Madrid
Juventus
Galatasaray
Copenhagen

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The saga over the transfer of Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale to Real Madrid seems, at last, close to reaching its conclusion . It appears the end Welshman will play his football at the Bernabeu after becoming the most expensive player in football history .

However, the party most upset and angry with the deal is not the Tottenham fans, who see for the second consecutive season one of their best players  head to Madrid, but Southampton, who look like they have missed out on a huge windfall.

The origin of this story is in the summer of 2007 . Spurs secured the signing of Bale, who was at the time a promising 17-year-old, from Southampton . The north London side had been keen on Bale for a while, having tried to finalise a deal from him in the previous January transfer window. But the Saints would not agree because they didn’t want to let go of their promising jewel in their crown.

The agreement reached in the summer of 2007 saw Spurs pay an initial £5 million (5.85 million euros), plus a number of appearance and target based bonuses that would see the deal increase by an additional £5 million. As well as this , Southampton, aware of the potential of Bale, and like it did when Theo Walcott transferred to Arsenal in 2006 , included a percentage in case of a future sale of Bale.

According to media sources, this percentage was between 15% and 25% , depending on who you believe. However, Southampton were experiencing ever-worsening financial problems, and in 2008, just a year selling Bale, agreed with Tottenham to sell their percentage for a future sale of the winger to the north London side.

Spurs  allowed the Saints to sign goalkeeper Tommy Forecast, valued at around £1.5 million (1.75 million euros), for free in exchange for giving up the sell-on clause for Bale.

The business could not have gone worse. Forecast never played any official match for Southampton and was loaned to various lower league clubs until he left.

Meanwhile, had Southampton managed to keep the sell-on clause intact, they would have received between 15 and 25 million euros for Bale’s  transfer to Real Madrid. An amount that would have served to repay , among others , the signing of striker Osvaldo, who they just signed from Roma.

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Mesut Ozil has rubbished reports he is set to leave the club and sign for Arsenal or Real Madrid.

The German international has been subject of speculation given that the competition for places will increase once Gareth Bale signs for the club.

Both United and Arsenal are on the look out for midfield reinforcements as they go on search of domestic honours in England as well as the Champions League.

But the 24-year-old dismissed any claims he is looking to leave the Santiago Bernabeu and said he is looking to win some of football’s major honours in Carlo Ancelotti’s new look squad.

Speaking at a sponsor’s event at the stadium, Ozil, who signed for Los Blancos three years ago, said: “I want to be successful. A lot has been written in the media about other teams, but I have a contract with Real Madird and I am staying here.”

“When you play for a team as important as Real Madrid, you have to win titles and we will do everything possible.

“We will work hard. We are a club that has special players and I am convinced that we will win titles this year. We have our aims and each of us has a role and we will try to win all of the titles on offer,” he added.

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Real Madrid winger Angel di Maria has said he wants to stay and fight for his place at the club, even if they sign Gareth Bale.

The 25-year-old has been linked with a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu, with strong interest coming from Arsenal as Arsene Wenger looks to reinforce his squad ahead of the transfer deadline on September 2.

Carlo Ancelotti would be unlikely to play di Maria ahead of Bale if he signs, while Cristiano Ronaldo is a key player for Los Blancos, meaning the Argentinean would have his path to first team football blocked.

Real’s directors would be willing to part with the winger if they get an offer of around 30 million euros.

But di Maria told AS newspaper he wants to stay in the Spanish capital.

“I understand that the club is strengthening and they are precise in what they do. But I signed up to 2018 just a year ago and my desire is to stay in the Bernabeu” he stated.

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It’s been said before, but the Madrid press believe the signing of Gareth Bale will be announced in a matter of hours.

Tottenham Hotspur agreed a deal to sign Erik Lamela from Roma yesterday for 35 million euros, and are in talks to sign Ajax’s Christian Eriksen. Once that deal is complete, Bale will get the green light to move to Madrid.

AS has pictures of the stand that still remains in place for the eventual presentation – which the club hope will be done by the weekend so the Welshman can make his debut against Athletic Bilbao.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo is in the final three for the UEFA Best Player in Europe award. The winner will be announced in Monaco later this evening.

And in the same place, the Champions League draw will be made, meaning Madrid will find out who their opponents will be for the group stages of the competition.

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Former Barcelona forward Hristo Stoichkov has said Real Madrid target Gareth Bale showed a lack of respect to his Tottenham Hotspur team mates by skipping training yesterday.

The Wales star is subject of a world record bid by Los Blancos, but was told to report for training as normal by Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas after being given a few days off last week during which he went to Marbella.

But the 24-year-old failed to turn up at Spurs Lodge, with media reports claiming the PFA Player of the Year is unhappy with his chairman Daniel Levy for holding up the deal.

Bulgaria legend Stoichkov told Onda Cero that Bale had shown a lacked of respect before saying he thought the winger was overpriced.

“Bale has shown a lack of respect toward his Tottenham team-mates by not showing up for training. If Bale is worth €100m, I would have been priceless,” he said.

 

 

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Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has accused the current president Florentino Perez of being arrogant by allowing the club to erect a stand in readiness for Gareth Bale’s presentation before the deal has even been concluded.

Pictures emerged over the weekend of the temporary stage within the Santiago Bernabeu, but Bale’s current club Tottenham Hotspur are still not happy with the deal on offer.

The north London side were further enraged when it emerged Los Blancos shirts bearing Bale’s name were also for sale – prompting Spurs’ chairman Daniel Levy to threaten to pull the plug on the transfer.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Calderon accused his successor and bitter rival of arrogance.

“The president in some cases is behaving with a bit of arrogance. When you are very powerful, like Real Madrid is, you have to be humble. It’s what I did,” he said.

“In this case, I think they’ve gone too far and, the arrogance, I don’t think it’s the right way to behave in life,” he added.

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