Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Real Madrid transfer news: Why Gareth Bale demands RUINED Man Utd and Tottenham hopes
GARETH BALE is expected to sign a new contract at Real Madrid - but only after his suitors baulked at his demands.
Manchester United and Tottenham are both interested in signing Bale.
United have tracked the Wales superstar ever since he entered the scene at Tottenham.
Spurs themselves have always hoped they could re-sign Bale should he consider a move back to the Premier League.
Bale himself threw his Real Madrid future into question after the Champions League final, where he hinted he needed to play somewhere else to guarantee game time.
But a move back to England is off the cards, the Sun claims.
One reason for this is that Cristiano Ronaldo has left for Juventus - a move that frees up space in Real’s attacking unit for Gareth Bale to be the top dog.
But the Sun add that United and Spurs were never going to meet Bale’s contract demands, meaning a deal may have been less likely than many people thought.
It is claimed Bale was seeking a £650,000-a-week deal to head to either Old Trafford or north London.
Real Madrid can meet those demands and a new contract until 2022 is supposedly being drawn up.
But United, whose wage bill for 2016/17 was £263m, are unwilling to add another big-money contract to their expenditure.
Spurs, meanwhile, are financing their new stadium and are set for a number of frugal seasons when it comes to transfers.
On a possible move for Bale, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said: "I think it's not realistic."