Real Madrid’s quest to land Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale for a world-record fee looks to be nearing its conclusion, with Spanish media reporting yesterday that a deal was all but secured.
The nine-time European champions have a reputation for getting their man and Spanish sports daily Marca were sourcing radio station Cadena COPE when it reported that a deal had been agreed and would be confirmed on Friday for 99 million euros (US$132.43 million).
Real’s signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United in 2009 set the world-record transfer fee at about 96 million euros.
Photo: AFP
Real were to play a friendly against Qatar side Al Sadd for the annual Santiago Bernabeu trophy yesterday evening, when the club will be celebrating the return of their all-time leading scorer Raul.
Los Blancos are unlikely to want to trump that event with the Bale signing.
Even if the deal for the Wales international is not confirmed today, all the indications are that the player will be running out at the Bernabeu this season in the currently vacant No. 11 shirt.
The 24-year-old has been ruled out of action for the opening matches of Tottenham’s season as he has suffered a couple of niggling injuries, though media speculation has suggested it is part of a tactic to force through the move.
Spurs have been busy in the transfer market, landing Spain striker Roberto Soldado from Valencia for a club record 30 million euros and are reportedly close to exceeding that figure with a move for Brazilian forward Willian from Russian outfit Anzhi Makhachkala.
The transfer window in Europe shuts on Sept. 2.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier