The sporting board of Barcelona has made a list of their priority summer transfer target and Gareth Bale is the topmost on their mind so far.
The 22 year old Gareth Bale has been considered to be the perfect long-term replacement for Eric Abidal, who underwent a liver transplant last week by the sporting board of Barcelona.
Scouts for the Spanish club has been following the performances of the 22 year old for a while now but the game that finally sealed the decision to do a follow-up on signing the player was the 3-1 win at Fulham last November, when he set up Aaron Lennon for Spurs’ second goal.
Also on the list of the sporting board is Brazilian Neymar who plays for Santos but is shrinking from meeting the buy-out clause in his contract, which reportedly rose from pounds 37 million when he renewed his deal last November.
However the move on Neymar has been postponed till after the 2014 World Cup.
The heat has been turned on for the signature of Gareth Bale away from Tottenham Hotspur as he is the man Barcelona’s board would most like to see in the blaugrana but the issue surrounding the signing is that of Guardiola’s new contract negotiation which has been tied to that Bale too and there seem to be a fallout between the board and coach Guardiola as the latter kept delaying the contract extension move, therefore the his options open which is why his relationship with the board has been strained this season.
On the close-season transfer movements, Guardiola is yet to make any commitment too as he has the final say on who to buy and why buy who and this will only work if he pledges to stay another one year with Barcelona; still going back to sign his contract extension.
Going back to Bale, he is one the major players Tottenham Hotspur as he was nominated as the 2011 Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers’ Association, he has scored 23 goals over the past two seasons, including a San-Siro hat-trick against Inter in the Champions League 18 months ago and this has made him one the most expensive player for the club and the club management months ago warned potential scouts and clubs to back off their players as a lot of money has been spent to acquire their signature which they also do not intend to let go just yet.
But this has deterred Barcelona from going after the player as he has three years left to lace boots for Tottenham.
The board will be hoping that Guardiola will be moved by the player’s profile to make a quick replacement for the left-back position and also Bale is seen as an added advantage as the attack will be sharper.
The Spanish club is looking to sell one major player in their squad and it was David Villa initially but due to the injury sustained during a game and a surgery afterwards attentions turned to Alves who is presently facing a divorce that is set to cost him millions in alimony, there are hints the Brazilian will make himself available for transfer to generate a big payday.
And in that event Barcelona would replace him with the more defensively minded Martin Montoya and seek to shift their attacking focus to the left flank, explaining the move for Bale, a player who has not been comfortable as an orthodox left-back.
Although English players imported to Spanish clubs proved less their abilities during their stay in the Spanish clubs but Barcelona board are willing to give it a go even though Guardiola may sound his disapproval to the Welshman’s move to Barcelona.
