Championship - Saints take early pay-out on Bale

Eurosport - Wed, 09 Jul 10:09:00 2008

Southampton have forfeited a chunk of the transfer fee owed by Tottenham for Gareth Bale in a bid to ease their financial problems.

FOOTBALL 2007-2008 Premier League Tottenham Gareth Bale - 0

Spurs paid Saints an initial £5million for the Wales international left-back last summer, while agreeing a further £5million based on appearances.

But Southampton's plc chairman Rupert Lowe, who returned to the club at the end of last season, has accepted an earlier settlement as part of the deal which brought young goalkeeper Tommy Forecast to St Mary's on Monday.

The hard-up Championship club were forced to strike a similar deal last season with Arsenal for Theo Walcott, sacrificing a reported £2.9million in order to collect the cash sooner.

Lowe told the club's official website: "I am always reluctant to forego any future income but given our current financial situation, we must do all we can to go into the new season as robustly as possible."

TeamTalk / Eurosport

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  1. he is probably cashing in while he can, bale spent last season in the treatment room and was no use to spurs. i think they may have signed the next darren anderton.

    From Barry O, on Wed 9 Jul 3:23PM

  2. Southampton were daft.5 million is probably only half of what Gareth Bale is worth,but Southampton threw away a great chance 2 earn millions of pounds.If I was a manager in the Championship I'd try and sign some good Southampton players because I would be guaranteed a bargain.

    From Justin, on Tue 8 Jul 9:28PM

  3. looks like tottenham have earned themselves a few quid already this season maybe it will show its self on the pitch when it comes to winning games with the team they have they should be able to cruise along side the likes of man utd and the like come on boys lets see the real spurs play as we the supporters know you can

    From paultolley1, on Tue 8 Jul 2:00PM
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