Tottenham prepared to pay around £20m in wages and loan fees to bring former star back to the club..Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid in 2013
Tottenham are close to agreeing a deal to sign Gareth Bale on loan from Real Madrid.
Bale is waiting in Madrid for the green light to fly to London to sign the contract that will see him return to the club he left in a world-record £86m transfer seven years ago.Lawyers in Spain and England are working on drawing up contracts which will make Bale a Spurs player again on a season-long loan deal. Spurs have agreed to pay about £20 million in wages and loan fees.
Tottenham are close to agreeing a deal to sign Gareth Bale on loan from Real Madrid.
Bale is keen to play for a club where he believes he will be respected and appreciated again.
Although he played for Wales twice this month, he is not fully match fit and it is expected that it will take a month for him to get back to his best.
A source close to the negotiations says progress is slow at the moment but there is an expectation on all sides that a deal will be completed. When asked if Bale would become a Spurs player soon, the source said: "Of course."
Real Madrid have agreed to let him leave on loan in order to get his £500,000-a-week wages off their books and Tottenham have made all the running to sign him this week.
As well as being frozen out by Zinedine Zidane, Bale has had a difficult relationship with the Spanish media and Real fans, and he is looking forward to making a fresh start back at Spurs.
Manchester United considered making a move for him as a back-up option to Jadon Sancho, but they did not make an offer, even though they have tried to sign him on numerous occasions since he was at Southampton 13 years ago.
Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon told Sky Sports: "If it's Tottenham that he wants to go to, I'm sure he'll go there. I don't have a personal knowledge of his intentions or the terms of the deal, but apparently it looks to be Tottenham.
"Sometimes when the salary of the player wanting to leave Real Madrid is very high, we've shared part of that salary but I don't know if that's going to be the case now.
"He came here being the MVP from Tottenham, but now the point is to see if he can recover his time as a good player as it's clear that Zinedine Zidane doesn't count on him. It's the time to end this situation and for me it's the best moment to do that.
"I suppose it will be [a permanent deal]. He has two years left on his contract so if he leaves this season, I feel he would stay at the new club for the rest of his career. He has three or four more years at a good level, so if he goes to Tottenham maybe he will finish his career there.
"I don't know if Dele Alli will be part of the deal, but I don't think Tottenham would want to let him go as he's a very good player. Any big team would want to have him in their side."