Transfer Tavern - Bale fee is far too excessive

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

With four weeks to go left before the summer transfer window slams shut, cubs are starting to get together the squad they aim to do battle with across the football spectrum until the festive period.

In the first of a new weekly series until the window closes, I will be rounding up some of the major talking points in transfers involving the English clubs.

There’s only one place I can start this week and that is the transfer business involving Welsh starlet Gareth Bale (pictured).

It now looks almost certain that Bale will be leaving Tottenham Hotspur for Real Madrid.  New Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has admitted talks are ongoing between the two clubs, and some media sources have reported a bid of £85m has been placed, but turned down by the north Londoners.

Now there have been mentions of several potential fees.  Suggestions have ranged from £55m plus Portuguese left back Fabio Coentrao and midfielder Angel Di Maria or even as much as £100m.  It looks like they are about to topple the £80m fee they paid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009 which currently is the biggest paid transfer in the history of football.

When Ronaldo went, he was at the peak of his powers and was probably worth the fee, but Bale’s potential transfer valuation is far too excessive.  There is no question that he has the ability to become one of the world’s best and he is most definitely the best player the Premier League has to offer at the moment.

However, he is nowhere near the bracket between the ‘aliens’ of this planet, and that’s Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.  He isn’t as good in dictating possession as either Xavi or Andrea Pirlo, and isn’t as deadly in finishing as Falcao, Robin van Persie and Edinson Cavani.  It means the valuation of the player by Tottenham has entered fantasy land.  I’d say Bale is no more worth than £60m. 

Tottenham fans will be disappointed to lose Bale, but the player has already stated to manager Andre Villas-Boas that he wants to leave, so therefore the club have to accept that his future lies elsewhere.  However they obviously want to get the best price for their star asset.  It has to be said that the state of football is quite worrying when a player is about to be transferred for potentially past the £100m mark.

There will be more on Luis Suarez’s future in next week’s piece, but it seems like Liverpool are already considering alternative options.  When I heard of the bid the club made for striker Douglas Costa from Atletico Madrid on Thursday night, my first thought was he must be a direct replacement for Suarez.

Costa’s release clause of £21m has been met, but the Brazilian only scored 10 goals in La Liga last season – six less than Iago Aspas who has already linked up with the Reds this summer from Celta Vigo.  Brendan Rodgers doesn’t have many alternatives when thinking about replacements for Suarez should he go, but the money for a player who doesn’t look massively prolific should be looked into improving other areas of the team.

Tottenham did sell one player this week and the deal that takes Steven Caulker to Cardiff City for around £8m is a great deal for all parties.  Caulker has a chance of going to the World Cup next summer should England qualify, and he wasn’t going to feature on a regular basis for the Lilywhites.  This move means barring injury and suspension, Caulker will be playing for the Red Dragons week in, week out.

Cardiff have got a player who is only going to improve with every passing season, and the fee is good value for everyone.  The Welsh club have signalled their intent by breaking their transfer record to land Caulker and Spurs have got another £8m to reinvest in the defence.  They’ll need to though with Jan Vertonghen and Younes Kaboul both injured and William Gallas being released earlier in the summer.

Another player leaving White Hart Lane and the Premier League in general is Clint Dempsey.  He has returned to the MLS after several successful years in England, signing for Seattle Sounders for a reported £6m.  That is exactly the same fee Spurs paid to Fulham for Dempsey last year; so again, you can’t fault the business done here to get all the money back for a player who was a bit too inconsistent for my liking and probably for the majority of the Tottenham fans.

Elsewhere, the Uruguay skipper Diego Lugano has swapped the French capital Paris for the calm surroundings of West Bromwich in the Midlands.  Lugano is not the player he once was, and spent the second half of last season on loan at Malaga.  His experience though at the top level will be vital to West Brom as they look to improve on last season’s excellent eighth place finish.  Steve Clarke is keen to bolster his experience ranks, having already added Nicolas Anelka to his roster for the upcoming season.

Outside of the top league and while QPR can be criticised heavily for their excessive wage bills, their decision to acquire Charlie Austin could well be a masterstroke.  Austin has scored goals for fun at Championship level with Burnley and he could well be the man to help Harry Redknapp’s side make an instant return to the top flight.  He failed a medical at Hull City earlier this summer, and Burnley had to let him go or risk losing him for nothing next summer.  It will be interesting to see how Hull go without Austin, and how QPR depend on his potential goal tally.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT THIS WEEK?

The Bale saga is likely to dominate the headlines once again, with AVB criticising Real Madrid for their continued pursuit of the players after Tottenham’s hefty 5-2 friendly defeat to AS Monaco on Saturday night. 

Newcastle should complete the signing of Bafetimbi Gomis this week from French club Lyon.  Local sources understand a fee of £8m has been agreed and Gomis should become the latest player with French connections to turn up on Tyneside.

Another deal I’d expect to see go through this week is Darren Bent’s proposed transfer from Aston Villa to Fulham.  Bent is the forgotten man in the Midlands and is surplus to requirements under Paul Lambert.  Fulham have apparently had one bid rejected already, but should land their target depending on Bent’s wage demands.  He knows Martin Jol as well from his Tottenham days, and could form a good partnership with the frustrating, but at times brilliant Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov.

And Crystal Palace hope to bring in at least another three players before the week is out.  One of them is likely to be the 29-year-old striker Marouane Chamakh on a loan deal until January.  Chamakh needs to move on from Arsenal, as he is more likely to be cleaning boots rather than playing for the Gunners if he chooses to stay.

On next week’s transfer tavern, I will give my thoughts on the Luis Suarez saga and whether he should stay or leave Liverpool.