Andre Villas-Boas is confident Gareth Bale will stay at Tottenham, despite failing to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
The 23-year-old produced another stunning goal against Sunderland in closing minutes of their final match of the season to earn all three points on Sunday, but Arsenal’s win at Newcastle left Spurs with a fifth-placed finish, and a place in the UEFA Europa League next season.
Despite his star player being linked with moves to many of the top clubs in Europe, Villas-Boas is confident that he will have him at the club next season.
“Yes, that’s the information we have (that Bale will stay),” he said. “It is very, very difficult to lure a player of this dimension away.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy gave the club’s fans an equally positive message regarding Bale in his annual message, writing: “Looking ahead to the summer, we shall continue to seek to strengthen
and improve the team and to retain key players.”
Bale was denied a penalty early in Sunday’s game as Sebastian Larsson appeared to bring him down inside the area, but referee Andre Mariner waved his appeals away and booked the winger for diving instead.
Villas-Boas was disappointed with that decision as he felt an early Tottenham goal could have added pressure on Arsenal, and that that Bale’s reputation had swayed Mariner’s decision not to award the spot-kick.
“It was an extremely disappointing decision,” he added. “In my opinion, for the fact that Andre was on the conference at the start of season and we spoke about Gareth’s incidents.
“It was a poor decision. It could have potentially changed the nature of other game too.”
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