Gareth Bale

Tottenham has finally, officially sold 24-year-old winger Gareth Bale to Real Madrid after months of false alarms and feet-dragging with less than one day left in the summer transfer window. The English Press reports Gareth Bale's deal as $132 million, a record-breaking sum. In the more recent months of the trade rumors, reports came in that Madrid wanted to keep the deal under $124 million so as not to upset star player Cristiano Ronaldo, whom acquired in 2009 from Manchester United. The fact that the usually boastful Spanish powerhouse has not verified the number seems telling. Whatever the number, it was enough to convince the Spurs to release their best player, who scored 26 goals last season.

Chairman, Daniel Levy commented, "Gareth was a player we had absolutely no intention of selling as we look to build for the future. He is a player whose career we have fostered and developed and he was only a year into his new four year contract.”

"Such has been the attention from Real Madrid and so great is Gareth's desire to join them, that we have taken the view that the player will not be sufficiently committed to our campaign in the current season."We have, therefore, with great reluctance, agreed to this sale and do so in the knowledge that we have an exceptionally strong squad to which we have added no fewer than seven top internationals. More importantly, we have an immense team spirit and a dressing room that is hungry for success."

Real Madrid now faces a dilemma they have grown used in recent years, trying to use all their stars without causing internal strife and unrest. “The spurs didn’t want to sell and Bale is a very talented young player, it’s very possible that they got the better end of this agreement.”- Yahoo Sports.