• Premier League

Sherwood 'one million per cent' sure of Bale stay

ESPN staff
May 21, 2013
Gareth Bale has been linked with a move abroad © Getty Images
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Tottenham coach Tim Sherwood has claimed he is "one million per cent certain" that Gareth Bale will remain at the club next season.

Bale is reported to be in talks to sign a bumper new contract with Spurs after his sparkling performances this season drove the club to within a point of a return to the Champions League.

Yet Sunday's failure to overhaul Arsenal and snare a top-four finish has fuelled speculation that the PFA and Football Writers' Player of the Year may be tempted away from White Hart Lane by a bumper £50 million bid from Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

Amid suggestions that the Tottenham hierarchy - including club owner Joe Lewis and chairman Daniel Levy - will hold meetings to plot the club's future in the Caribbean this week, Sherwood has cemented the suspicion that Bale is unlikely to flee the Spurs ship any time soon.

"I believe one million per cent he will stay at Tottenham," Sherwood told talkSPORT. "I don't see him banging the door down trying to get a move because he is fantastically happy at Tottenham.

"I see him around the training ground every day, he's got a good working relationship with the manager and he loves his team-mates. They show him the respect that he deserves and he gives it back to them.

"It's crucial for all teams when you're at the level of the league that we are, pushing for Champions League football, that players like Gareth Bale stay at your club.

"There will be a lot of clubs wanting to take Gareth, but he's 23-years-old and fortunately for Gareth and Tottenham, he's got good advisors. They know that it's not a flash in the pan, that he's got built-in quality and the opportunities will arise for him in the future if he wants to go elsewhere some time.

"There's time for him to go overseas or to another Premier League club but I think he needs to stay here. He is developing fantastically well, he just needs to put a level of consistency in his performance over a few seasons.

"He is already shown he can do it week-to-week, he needs to kick on next year and produce the same quality that he has this year."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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