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16th Aug 2013

Transfer Talk: Bale gives Spurs the silent treatment and United join Liverpool in race for Willian

Gareth Bale is reverting to an age-old tactic in his attempts to leave Spurs and Liverpool’s move for Willian could be hijacked by a last-ditch intervention from their bitter rivals.

Conor Heneghan

Gareth Bale is reverting to an age-old tactic in his attempts to leave Spurs and Liverpool’s move for Willian could be hijacked by a last-ditch intervention from their bitter rivals.

When you were younger and got into trouble with your folks, getting the silent treatment or being told they were ‘disappointed’ in you was always far worse than being given a rollicking there and then and getting it over with.

It seems as if Gareth Bale is reverting to this age-old tactic in order to force through his dream move to Real Madrid, with Andre Villas Boas admitting that dialogue between the pair is pretty much non-existent as the transfer deadline day moves ever closer.

“His mental state nobody knows because the player doesn’t speak,” Villas-Boas is quoted as saying in virtually all of the morning papers.

“The only thing that we are able to see or you (the media) are able to see is the player arriving in and out of the training ground.”

Whether he stays or not AVB clarified that Bale would miss at least the first three games of the season (Fantasy Football managers take note) but the Spurs boss isn’t allowing the Bale saga to distract him from improving his squad and having secured the signing of Etienne Capoue, he isn’t ready to stop yet.

The Sun think that Spurs are lining up a £15 million bid for Roma’s Pablo Osvaldo, although the Express say that Southampton are ready to bid a similar fee for the 27-year old’s services.

The Telegraph, meanwhile, say that Spurs are one of a host of clubs interested in taking Willian off an Anzhi Makhachkala side in dire need of revenue, but they still maintain that Liverpool are the favourites to snap up the talented Brazilian midfielder.

Interestingly, the Telegraph reckon that Manchester United have also registered an interest, although it seems to have become a trend to throw United’s name into the mix with nearly every available transfer target these days, particularly those who play in midfield.

Speaking of United and midfielders, the Daily Mirror have latched onto a rumour linking the Red Devils with a move for Mesut Ozil, a deal which, appropriately under the circumstances, would have United fans wide-eyed with excitement about the prospect of the German lighting up Old Trafford next season.

There isn’t much solid information in the Mirror about the Ozil link apart from a theory that Real might want to reap some cash by offloading some saleable assets if they do sign Gareth Bale so it isn’t exactly set in stone just yet.

Staying with United, The Star claim that Chelsea are close to giving up on their pursuit of Wayne Rooney in favour of a move for the far less expensive Samuel Eto’o, while the Times claim that the Rooney move is still a possibility but not if it doesn’t happen before Chelsea’s self-imposed deadline of August 26, which is the day the two clubs meet at Old Trafford.

Impatience is an emotion running high amongst Arsenal fans right now due to the lack of new arrivals at the Emirates and the need for reinforcements has been exacerbated by an injury to Mikel Arteta that could rule him out for up to six weeks.

According to this morning’s papers, he can forget about poaching two of Swansea’s best players with the Daily Star carrying a warning from Michael Laudrup to Wenger to not to waste his time trying to sign Michu, while the Mirror say that the Gunners will have to double a £6million bid if they want to sign centre-half Ashley Williams from the Swans.

Finally, Cardiff are believed to chasing loitering in the car park enthusiast Peter Odemwingie (Daily Mail), Darren Bent is set to join Fulham on loan (The Mirror), Crystal Palace could be the latest destination in Yossi Benayoun’s whistle-stop tour of the Premier League (The Sun) and Armand Traore could be set for a return to the Premier League with Sunderland (Daily Mail).

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