According to those who know him, Gareth Bale remains a down-to-earth kind of footballer.
For example, when he plays for Wales in Cardiff, he still gets his mum Debbie to record the game so that he can go ‘home’ afterwards and watch it.

Success, they say, hasn’t changed him much. Even he, though, must have found his head swirling on Tuesday when the front page of Spanish sports paper Marca claimed — somewhat prematurely it appears — that he has agreed a six-year deal to join Real Madrid.

Time to move? Gareth Bale is expected to leave White Hart Lane at some point

Superstar: Gareth Bale is one of the most sought-after players in Europe

Bale, remember, wasn’t even a regular in the Tottenham team when Harry Redknapp arrived at White Hart Lane in 2008. Indeed, so unconvinced was Redknapp initially by the young left-back that he offered him to Manchester City as bait for Craig Bellamy.

Now, in the summer of 2013, Bale is one of Europe’s most sought-after footballers, coveted by Madrid and Manchester United, and destined, it seems, for the very highest level of the European game at some time in the next 12 months.

Spurs, of course, are trying to hang on for another season at least and who can blame them?
Without their most influential player, Andre Villas-Boas and his entertaining team will find themselves short of what is needed for a top-four finish.

With Bale still in harness, Tottenham still have a chance and no wonder Villas-Boas was talking in such belligerent fashion on Tuesday when asked in Hong Kong about the future of the 24-year-old.

Close relationship: Andre Villas-Boas has helped Bale to produce his greatest form

‘I want to repeat what I was telling you last season and what I was telling you from the beginning of pre-season so I cannot extend myself,’ said Villas-Boas.
‘He’s a Tottenham player, he’s one of the most fantastic players in the world at the moment and we are counting on him for the future.’
It is easy to sympathise with Villas-Boas. Tottenham will sell Bale before long. It makes sense. The timing, though, is everything and it is clear that they will do what they can this summer to prevent him leaving, before September 1 heralds the closing of the summer trading window.
Interest from Real is genuine, as indeed it is from United. As it stands, an offer is most likely to come from Old Trafford.
It is hard to see Real testing Tottenham’s resistance while Cristiano Ronaldo remains at the Bernabeu and it is worth noting that Carlo Ancelotti also has another direct wide forward currently in his squad, Argentina international Angel di Maria.

Pawn? Cristiano Ronaldo’s future could affect Bale’s

Taking that into account, does Ancelotti need Bale? Not really. Not until Ronaldo leaves, at least, and when looked at from that angle it seems as though United may hold the key to all this.
As we know, United have flirted with the notion of a dramatic and sentimental return for Ronaldo. Some people in football insist it will still happen. As time moves on, however, it seems ever more difficult for United to pull off.
More possible is that the Barclays Premier League champions harden their interest in Bale himself.
Former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has long been a fan of the Welshman, having tried to bring him to Old Trafford before Spurs signed him from Southampton in 2007. Now that the baton has been passed to David Moyes at United, the admiration for Bale remains.
Moyes knows that Bale would bring an awful lot to his team but — as Sportsmail first reported in early June — United are reluctant to begin another period of painful sparring with their old adversary, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. Negotiations with Levy tend to be as painful and drawn out as pulling teeth and without any guarantee of a successful resolution.
United have experience — having bought Michael Carrick in 2006 and Dimitar Berbatov in 2008 — and it is this that makes them nervous.

Options: Luka Modric or Cesc Fabregas could yet end up at Manchester United

Equally, though, the club’s owners the Glazers want a marquee signing this summer and the more other avenues begin to close off the more likely a serious attempt to get Bale out of Tottenham becomes.
Luka Modric has long been on United’s back-up list as they look for a creative midfielder, while Moyes has a week to decide whether to close in on Everton’s Marouane Fellaini, as the Belgian’s £22m buy-out clause expires on July 31.
Certainly, the longer Barcelona’s stubbornness over Cesc Fabregas goes on, the more likely it is that something will have to give. United need players and Moyes has already indicated publicly this week that he cannot wait forever.

Admirer: Bringing Bale to Manchester United would be a huge coup for David Moyes

United’s fanbase are also starting to get a little agitated. Moyes is aware of this and remains calm. When he looks across the landscape, though, he can see his rivals spending money, strengthening. If this doesn’t make him nervous yet then it soon will do.
Bale, for his part, is keen to better himself before long. Represented by the experienced agent Jonathan Barnett, he will get his move eventually and those of us who enjoy watching him play so much can only hope he remains in the Premier League.
There are too few of his ilk left. For once it’s all too easy to understand all the fuss.

According to Dailymail

Arsenal have reinforced their determination to sign Luis Suárez with a club-record bid of £40m plus £1 for the Liverpool striker. The offer was rejected out of hand by Liverpool but Suárez could push for talks over a sensational move to the Emirates Stadium, if he so desires.

Liverpool were angered by Arsenal’s second bid for the 26-year-old when it arrived on Tuesday and remain adamant it will not trigger the release of their prized asset. The Arsenal chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, was informed by his Anfield counterpart, Ian Ayre, that Liverpool would not consider a sum of £40m for Suárez when he lodged an opening offer of £30m plus £5m in add-ons.

But that has not deterred Arsenal from returning, a fortnight later, with an offer that activates a clause in Suárez’s contract by one pound. Under the terms of a contract signed in August, Liverpool must inform last season’s leading goalscorer of a club’s interest once they receive a bid of more than £40m.

Anfield officials were due to fulfil that obligation to the Uruguay international following Liverpool’s pre-season friendly against Melbourne Victory . It will then be up to Suárez to decide whether he wishes to agitate for a move to Arsenal, having blamed vilification by the British media and the Football Association as the root of his disillusionment in England.

Liverpool are adamant that the £40m clause is not a fixed sale price and that they remain free to negotiate their own transfer fee for Suárez. As reported earlier this summer, Liverpool rate Suárez as a better player than Fernando Torres when he was sold to Chelsea in January 2011 and would demand in excess of the £50m received for the Spain international. Brendan Rodgers confirmed that position last week when he placed Suárez in the same price bracket as Uruguay team-mate Edinson Cavani, who recently joined Paris Saint-Germain from Napoli for £55.6m.

“When you consider that Cavani has gone for £55m you know … Luis is up there in that bracket of top talent,” the Liverpool manager said. “Obviously it [Arsenal’s first bid] was an offer we didn’t deem worthy of the talent and even if they came back with that kind of amount [£55m] there’s no guarantee he would be sold even for that because we are trying to build something here.”

Rodgers has repeatedly stated that Suárez is not for sale and it would require “something drastic” to alter Liverpool’s stance on a player they supported throughout the racism controversy with Patrice Evra and again when he received a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season. The former Ajax captain has six games left to serve of the Ivanovic suspension next term and his appearance against Melbourne Victory will be his first since April’s incident.

Nevertheless, Arsenal’s strategic move will apply pressure on Liverpool should Suárez ask to open negotiations with Arsène Wenger and push for Champions League football at the Emirates. Arsenal have evidently been encouraged to believe that £40m-plus is a sale clause and a legal dispute over the wording of Suárez’s contract cannot be discounted, having been linked with several transfers this summer without breaking the £15m club-record fee paid for Andrey Arshavin in 2009.

Wenger had hoped to sign Gonzalo Higuaín from Real Madrid but the Argentina international is mulling over a move to Napoli for a fee of around £30m. Higuaín’s departure from the Bernabéu would increase the prospect of Real joining the pursuit of Suárez but, despite the Uruguayan professing his admiration for Real on several occasions this summer, Real have made no contact with Liverpool.

Suárez, who received a warm reception from a 15,000 crowd that watched Liverpool train in Melbourne on Tuesday, has three years remaining on his contract and Rodgers has insisted the club will not be dictated to by the player over any transfer.

Napoli are also in negotiations to sign José Reina from Liverpool but the goalkeeper’s proposed reunion with Rafael Benítez in Serie A has still to be resolved. The Italian club want the Spain goalkeeper on a season-long loan, while Liverpool are keen to remove the 30-year-old’s £110,000-a-week contract from their wage bill but want the option of a permanent deal included. The two clubs have not reached agreement on the split of Reina’s wages while, for his part, the popular keeper is contemplating whether to move to Italy before a World Cup season having seen a proposed transfer to Barcelona collapse.

According Guardian