Gareth Bale Spurs-Real Madrid move confirmed

 Gareth Bale has signed for Real Madrid in a world-record 100 million euro transfer, it has been confirmed.

Tottenham Hotspur and the Spanish club announced the deal had been completed in separate official statements.

Real are understood to have paid 100 million euros (£85.3m) for Bale, who has signed a six-year deal.

The deal is subject to Bale passing a medical with the nine-time European champions, with all other details resolved.

Real Madrid announced on their website: "Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement for the transfer of Gareth Bale, who will be contracted to the club for the next six seasons."

A post on Spurs' Twitter page said: "The club can announce that it has reached agreement with Real Madrid for the transfer of Gareth Bale."

Real say the 24-year-old, who will earn over £36,000 a day, will be presented as their new player at their ground, the Bernabeu, on Monday at midday UK time in front of what is expected to be a capacity 85,000 crowd.

Sky Sports has full coverage of the day's transfer developments.

Bale, who arrived in Madrid on Sunday night, thanked everyone at Spurs and the club's "fantastic" fans in a statement.

"I am not sure there is ever a good time to leave a club where I felt settled and was playing the best football of my career to date," he said.

"I know many players talk of their desire to join the club of their boyhood dreams, but I can honestly say, this is my dream come true.

"I am well aware that I would not be at the level I am today were it not for firstly Southampton and then Spurs standing by me during some of the tougher times and affording me the environment and support they have.

"Tottenham will always be in my heart and I'm sure that this season will be a successful one for them. I am now looking forward to the next exciting chapter in my life, playing football for Real Madrid."

Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas, speaking after Tottenham's 1-0 defeat at Arsenal, said: "He is going to join Real Madrid so we wish him all the best.

"The player is an absolutely wonderful player. He has left us with some great memories from last season which every Tottenham fan cherishes, but he has moved on and we will move on as well."

Spurs had initially resisted Real's advances, but chairman Daniel Levy said he felt he had no option but to let the Welshman go.

"Gareth was a player we had absolutely no intention of selling as we look to build for the future," Levy told Tottenham's website.

"He is a player whose career we have fostered and developed and he was only a year into his new four-year contract.

"Such has been the attention from Real Madrid and so great is Gareth's desire to join them, that we have taken the view that the player will not be sufficiently committed to our campaign in the current season.

"We have, therefore, with great reluctance, agreed to this sale and do so in the knowledge that we have an exceptionally strong squad to which we have added no fewer than seven top internationals.

"More importantly, we have an immense team spirit and a dressing room that is hungry for success. We wish Gareth all the best in the future and he shall always be welcome at (White Hart) Lane."

Sky News Sports Correspondent Paul Kelso, in Madrid, said the move represented a gamble for the Spanish side.

"It's a huge amount of money for a footballer who's only 24 years old and is yet to win a major trophy," he said.

"This is an enormous show of faith from Real Madrid in the potential Gareth Bale has to become a truly global superstar, and it's a fantastic piece of business for Tottenham Hotspur.

"They're losing their most important player but have managed to use this transfer to fund 100 millions euros of spending to try and replace him."