Would Tottenham rather have Gareth Bale or £100 million?

After another season of missing out on Champions League qualification, Tottenham are looking down the barrel and could potentially be ready to lose their best player. Gareth Bale had an outstanding campaign for the north London side, winning the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year awards, and proving himself to be one of the most devastating attackers in the European game.

Rightly so, Bale has been linked with a number of top clubs, with Real Madrid thought to be ready to spend a world record transfer amount on the Wales international. The 23-year-old has so many positive assets. His physical attributes such as speed, agility and strength make him difficult to play against, while his delivery and shooting are excellent. He has added a real goal-scoring threat to his game, and is also good in the air. There is little wonder that Bale is being compared to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Bale has been pivotal in providing the spark needed to win games for Spurs this term. He has scored last-gasp goals on a number of occasions to turn one point into three, and the side looks galvanised and confident with him at his best. Tottenham also need players that can hold their nerve and have the ability to deal with stress in big games, and would excel when put under pressure. It is this winning mentality and ability to play to your best under pressure that could be the difference between Champions League football and Europa League football.

Should Madrid offer Tottenham a new world record fee of close to £100 million, it would be a real boost to the club financially, and Andre Villas-Boas would be able to bring in four or five really top-class players to boost other areas of the team. However, whether Bale could be replaced is another matter. There are few players in world football with the attributes that he possesses, and Tottenham would lose a great deal of their cutting edge even with new additions.

Spurs have consistently sold top players in recent years when a bigger club comes knocking. Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov and Luka Modric have all jumped ship when given the opportunity. This is an opportunity for Tottenham to state their intentions of consistently challenging for the top four, and more. If they keep Bale and strengthen with one or two good players in the summer, there is no reason Spurs won’t finish in the top four next season. If they sell Bale, despite the money they would receive, the club could struggle without their main man.