Real Madrid's acquisition of Gareth Bale seems to be of less importance to the club these days.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters that he was ready to move forward without the midfielder thanks to strong performances from other current squad players.
"Why talk about Bale when Jesé [Rodríguez] and [Alvaro] Morata have both played so well. They are young but incredibly talented," Ancelotti said, according to the Telegraph.
The statement may be just the latest move in a continued game of transfer chess between the two clubs. Early in the summer, the English team repeatedly stated that it would not move the player, which led to a number of increasing offers from Madrid that escalated to a record 100 million euro gamble. At that point Tottenham began demanding the money and another player; however, Madrid has not shown an unwillingness to move on its offer and has slowly shown signs of impatience.
"We talk with lots of people and we will see what happens in all our negotiations, with this player [Bale] and with others," Madrid President Florentino Perez said a few weeks ago, according to ESPN. "We do not usually talk about other players out of respect to the player, the club and the president, with whom I made a good friendship last season during the signing of Luka Modric.
"If I do not talk about names, I do not talk about money. [But] €100 million seems a lot to me, a lot for everything. I do not talk about players nor money because I should not and cannot, out of respect."
If Madrid ultimately backs away from the transfer, Tottenham will lose out on the chance to earn 100 million euros and will likely have an angry superstar disrupting the locker room as the losses mount this season.
Manchester United has been reportedly interested in acquiring Bale.
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