Gareth Bale to Tottenham: Jose Mourinho responds to transfer questions

Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP16 September 2020

Jose Mourinho has refused to comment on Tottenham's bid to re-sign Gareth Bale from Real Madrid.

Standard Sport understands that Tottenham remained locked in talks with Real Madrid regarding a deal for Bale on Wednesday morning.

Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, is leading negotiations with Real and Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett, with optimism on all sides of completing the biggest transfer of the summer.

Any move is dependent on Real agreeing to subsidise at least half of Bale’s reported £600,000-a-week wages, which the Spanish giants are reluctantly willing to do.

A loan deal is looking most likely, although Real have pushed for a permanent transfer as they look to offload their highest earner, who has two years remaining on his contract.

Speaking ahead of his side's Europa League second-round qualifying clash with Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Mourinho told reporters: "Gareth Bale is a Real Madrid player and I don't comment on players from other clubs.

"That is not my job to have contacts with agents. I don't want to comment on that."

Asked about whether he tried to sign Bale while managing Manchester United, Mourinho responded: "Even before that, I tried to sign him for Real Madrid, which was not possibly to do during my time there but the president followed my instinct and my knowledge and the season I left he brought Gareth to the club. There's no secret to that.

"Even [Gareth] knows that but I'm not going to speak to him any more because he's a Real Madrid player."