Tottenham unlikely to sell Bale to Manchester United

Manchester United manager
David Moyes will want a
flagship signing to mark the
start of his tenure.
A few reports this morning have
suggested that a bid in the
region of £60m
for Gareth Bale is being prepared
to try and tempt Tottenham into
negotiations.
Going to Old Trafford would
make the most sense for Bale,
who has a young child who he
wants to keep in the UK, whilst
also allowing him to play in the
Champions League. Fuelling this
speculation is that Ed Woodward
said the Rooney saga was not
the reason that he has returned
to England, but rather other
transfer dealings.
However, it is looking very
unlikely that the Welshman will
leave, having appeared in the
new kit advertisements for
Tottenham and looking happy
and settled in after starting pre-
season with Andre Villas-Boas's
team. And if he was to leave, he
would not go to Manchester
United, unless it was for a highly-
inflated price.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy
has a policy of never selling to
teams in the Premier League, for
the obvious reason that they are
competitors and he does not
want to help them at all. This can
be seen by Chelsea's pursuit of
Luka Modric.
The only issue for Tottenham is
that Manchester United unsettle
the player and get him to force
the move. This looks unlikely as
Bale seems to be enjoying his
football at White Heart Lane, and
many attempts by Real Madrid's
Zinedine Zidane to try and do this
have had no effect, it seems.
On top of this, Levy is a man who
holds a grudge. Tottenham sent
Dimitar Berbatov up to
Manchester to have a medical
with Manchester City and
negotiate personal terms;
however, he ended up at
Carrington walking around,
getting told about Manchester
United's history, and eventually
signing for the red half of
Manchester.
Although he still got his money,
this annoyed Levy. This can be
seen by his handling of the
transfer of Zeki Fryers, who was
a Manchester United player.
In England, when a player under
the age of 23 leaves a club at the
end of his contract for another
English club, the new club have
to pay a fee to the previous club.
Tottenham and Manchester
United could not agree on this
fee so Fryers went to Standard
Liege, so United got no
compensation fee.
In January, he signed for
Tottenham, meaning they still got
the player, but no money went to
Manchester United. This is an
example of the kind of lengths
Levy is willing to go to - and he is
a man who never lets anyone get
the better of him.
So if Bale does leave, which is
looking increasingly unlikely,
don't expect him to go to
Manchester United - unless it is
for a ridiculous fee.