Tottenham lead Man Utd in race for Gareth Bale

 

Tottenham are ahead of Manchester United in the race to land Real Madrid outcast Gareth Bale, claims ESPN.

 

The Wales international has been transfer listed by Madrid after falling completely out of favour under Zinedine Zidane in the last 12 months.

 

Bale's relationship with Zidane soured massively towards the end of last season but Madrid accept they will struggle to offload the forward permanently this summer.

 

Alerted to Bale's availability on loan, Jose Mourinho has told Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to do everything possible to re-sign the 31-year-old.

 

Initial discussions have reportedly even started with Madrid, though Bale's wages, even if partly funded by the Spanish side, are still a problem for Tottenham.

 

While United remain committed to trying to sign Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho this summer, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have earmarked Bale as a back-up option.

 

Bale, who is open to a summer switch to Old Trafford, accepts his reputation has taken a hit in recent years and is not put off by being a back-up to Sancho.

 

However, United will have to make a decision sooner rather than later or risk too missing out on Bale with time running out in the summer transfer window.

 

 

Despite playing a key part in several Champions League-winning campaigns, Bale is being hounded of Spain by Madrid.

 

The Welshman has endured a nightmare with injuries since joining Madrid from Tottenham in 2013 for a then-world record £85m fee.

 

In fact, Bale has never featured in more than 75% of available minutes in a single-league campaign for Madrid and was used in just 31.9% of the 2019/20 LaLiga season.