Tottenham close in on £30m Willian as Gareth Bale exit nears

 
Tom Collomosse20 August 2013

Tottenham appeared to pave the way for the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid today as they closed in on the £30million signing of Willian.

Spurs have been demanding £100million for their winger with Real’s bid falling £12m short.

However, Spurs were today in pole position to sign the Brazilian attacker Willian, a deal that would take their summer spending to £90m and Real are sure the London club will finally sell their star man to recoup that amount, although they accept the transfer may not be completed until the final days of the window.

The switch could be delayed if Fabio Coentrao refuses to move to White Hart Lane as Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas is keen for the Real wing-back to be a makeweight.

Real have prepared a six-year £8.5m-a-year contract for Bale but have offered to pay the transfer fee over four seasons.

Spurs’ own hopes of signing Willian rose today after it emerged that the Brazilian preferred to move to Tottenham ahead of Liverpool. They have also shown a strong interest in Roma pair Erik Lamela and Miralem Pjanic, with sources in Italy anticipating discussions in the next 24 hours that could result in a deal for Argentinian forward Lamela.

Sources in Russia even suggested that Willian, who plays as an attacking midfielder for Anzhi Makhachkala, was preparing to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical.

Willian, 25, is thought to earn a basic £80,000 a week at Anzhi, with bonuses also built into the structure of his contract, and he could expect to make a little more at his next club. Both Spurs and Liverpool are believed to be ready to pay him about £85,000 a week.

Since it became clear earlier this month that Willian was available for transfer due to Anzhi’s financial problems, Liverpool have led the way, before Spurs made their intentions clear over the weekend.

Both Manchester United and Chelsea had asked to be kept informed but, as of today, neither club had chosen to step up their pursuit.

Last week, Tottenham were understood to have been lukewarm about a move for Willian before a change of heart on Sunday. Like head coach Andre Villas-Boas, technical director Franco Baldini is a fan of the player.

The club made attempts to sign Willian in each of the last two transfer windows but negotiations with his former club, Shakhtar Donetsk, proved too complicated, and he eventually joined Anzhi in January.

While Willian has yet to confirm publicly his intentions, there are reasons to believe he would favour a move to London over Merseyside.

The 25-year-old has a good relationship with Villas-Boas and Willian claimed last October he regularly exchanged text messages with the Portuguese.

Furthermore, Willian would link up with compatriots Sandro, Paulinho and Heurelho Gomes at White Hart Lane, as well as joining a growing number of Brazilian players based in the capital.

Spurs have spent heavily this summer, twice breaking their transfer record to sign Paulinho and Roberto Soldado, and Villas-Boas confirmed their activity would continue before the transfer window closes on September 2.

Villas-Boas is still chasing a left-back – with Coentrao his top target – and a centre-half.

After the club sold Scott Parker to Fulham, he is also keen to remove Emmanuel Adebayor and Benoit Assou-Ekotto from the wage bill.

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