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Gareth Bale talks break down over funding

Levy rejects request for second set of negotiations Spurs wary of Real plans to finance record transfer.

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Daniel Levy refused on Thursday to meet Real Madrid for a second time this week after the Tottenham Hotspur chairman expressed serious reservations over whether the Spanish club possess the funds to buy Gareth Bale.

Spurs have grown increasingly frustrated with Real's confused stance with strong suggestions that their president, Florentino Perez, has not even made a formal offer for the Wales international.

There is also a sense at Spurs that Real are involved in a crude game of brinkmanship and might be hoping to take the deal down to the end of the transfer window, on September 2, in the hope that Bale can force a move.

However, this will lead Levy to become only more entrenched, as he did when Luka Modric tried to agitate for a move to Chelsea two years ago. Figures of pounds 80?million-plus have been suggested by Real sources for Bale, who Spurs are believed to value at pounds 104?million, but no formal bid has been received. More pressingly, Spurs are now convinced that Real do not have the money to buy Bale and certainly not on the terms that they would demand.

Spurs are not interested in payments being stretched over the six-year contract Real are proposing for Bale. Levy was persuaded to meet Perez on Tuesday after the Real president suggested he was prepared to adjust the informal bid he had put in for Bale last month to reflect a cash-plus-players deal.

The talks broke down quickly, however, with Spurs judging that the significant valuations that Real were placing on their players - striker Alvaro Morata, winger Angel di Maria and left-back Fabio Coentrao - were inflated. Spurs would want at least two of those should they sell Bale, having decided that simply having money in the bank is of no benefit to them. They are anxious that if the 24 year-old is sold they do not want to weaken themselves on the pitch.

Despite the breakdown of Tuesday's meeting, Real requested more talks to take place in Miami yesterday. The offer was flatly refused by Levy, who is not sure about the seriousness of Real's intent to sign Bale.

Perez yesterday appeared to claim that Real had cooled their interest although, evidently, his words were a bargaining position, given he has promised coach Carlo Ancelotti that Bale will be signed this summer. "We talk with lots of people and will see what happens in all our negotiations with Bale," he said.

"We do not usually talk about other players out of respect to the player, the club and the president. If I do talk about names, I do not talk about money, but 100 million pounds seems a lot to me." Tottenham head coach Andre Villas-Boas could also attempt to capitalise on the uncertainty at Anzhi Makhachkala to finally sign the Brazilian attacking midfielder Willian, whom he has tried twice previously to bring to the Premier League.

Spurs may have to bid close to the 35 million pounds that was demanded earlier this year by his previous club, Shakhtar Donetsk. Spurs' latest signing is French international Etienne Capoue, with the midfielder's current club, Toulouse, having revealed that a fee of 8.6 million pounds has been agreed for the 24 year-old. His signing will add to the acquisition of striker Roberto Soldado, from Seville, for a fee that could rise to a record 26 million pounds, the 17 million pounds capture of Brazilian international Paulinho and the signing of Belgium midfielder Nacer Chadli from FC Twente for 7 million pounds.

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