Gareth: What is going on?!

All things considered, the summer of 2013 has been a successful transfer window for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. We have dared, and we have done, and done early might I add.

Purchases of established, top class players, including Midfield Maestro Paulinho, Mr Goals Soldado, and New Vieira Capoue, have all been strong, assertive moves in the transfer market.

So why do I still have that feeling of unwrapping a birthday present which isn’t exactly what I wanted? Why do I still have that slightly tumbly feeling of driving over a bridge at high speed?

I suspect it comes down to a couple of related issues. Firstly, what exactly is going on with Gareth, and secondly, will we strengthen further and in what circumstances will this come about?

On the subject of Bale to Real Madrid / Man Utd / Anyone, the whole episode is beginning to strike me as very curious indeed. Naturally media interpretation makes understanding exactly what is happening, very difficult indeed. Sales, ratings and readers are their business – sensationalistic intrigue and discord are their tools by which to achieve their aims.

So, as lawyers are wont to do, I consider the evidence to try and deduce a conclusion.

• Real Madrid have fully declared an interest in signing Gareth Bale.

• Tottenham are understood to have fixed a price for Gareth Bale (exact figure unknown, but reckoned to be a world record transfer fee).

• Real Madrid (or anyone else), have not, at the time of writing, submitted a formal transfer bid which is equal to this fixed price.

• Gareth Bale is suffering from an injury. This is the reason he has not played for Tottenham or Wales in the last couple of months.

• Gareth Bale has not stated his intentions or opinions on any potential transfer to anyone.

• Gareth Bale is still paid by Tottenham Hotspur. He is still contractually engaged in their service. He remains, at the time of writing, a Tottenham Hotspur player.

So there we have it. Everything else is ultimately just media spin. We can surmise that Gareth probably does want to leave for Real Madrid, but do we honestly think that a guy from the valleys, who has a young family settled in London, and who a few months ago was talking about being raring to go for the next season AT TOTTENHAM, do we honestly think that he is now so incensed with his treatment by Tottenham in not agreeing to Real Madrid’s demands to release him for a sum that they are prepared to pay, rather than a sum that Tottenham deem acceptable, that he is refusing to train and play with the team?!

Does that honestly sound remotely like the humble guy, who lest we forget at 24 is little more than a kid really, who always spoke with humility and praise for his teammates when all around him were proclaiming his individual genius?

I don’t believe so. It just doesn’t really track. Yes Real Madrid are one of the biggest and best teams in the world, but Tottenham are clearly on the up and up. It’s an exciting time at the lane, and Gareth knows how values he is there.

I consider it incredibly unlikely that his feelings in this matter realistically stretch to anything more than “Yes, I would like to go to Real Madrid if they make the right offer for you to accept for me Daniel, and I completely understand you need me to be replaced first.”

Gareth Bale seems in all occasions I’ve had to observe him through interview, to be a genuine, reasonable, intelligent guy, and I do not believe for a second that another season at Tottenham is in any way something he would be so adverse to, as the media would have us believe.

So, if Real Madrid, or whomever, do not submit a bid equal to the fixed price set down by Tottenham, then I would fully expect to see Gareth as enthusiastic as ever in a Tottenham shirt as soon as his injury is healed.

If however, he does end up going, then the question becomes who else are Tottenham going to sign? This again fills me with some feeling of anguish and trepidation as this transfer window has been a nearly window for many clubs, and in some instances Spurs are no exception.

David Villa-  signed sealed and delivered…yeah, right up until the point he signed with another club.

Christian Benteke – in the bag…yeah, right up until he jumped out of the bag to sign an extended contract with Aston Villa.

Willian – Freaking medical completed, before turning arse about face and walking down into the local attacking midfielder outlet store down the road.

So I admit I am somewhat sceptical about current report concerning the signing of Erik Lamela. In all honesty I haven’t seen enough of this kid to know if he’s worth the money, but I have faith in those who do know and understand football better than I, and so consider it an exciting possibility.

Hopefully another signing or two as well, perhaps Chiriches in defence might go through- who knows!

But, if we don’t sign anyone else then Gareth will stay, you can bet your bottom dollar on that! Because there is simply no point taking two steps forward and what amounts to three steps back.

The way forward is very promising, but Gareth hasn’t gone yet, and if he stays, then it could be very successful as well.