Tottenham’s Gareth Bale will not be fit to play for Spurs until the North London derby on Sunday, September 1, according to manager Andre Villas-Boas.
Villas-Boas said:
“For the games against Palace, Tbilisi and Swansea, [Gareth Bale] will not be in line to threaten to come back. We will have to see how he returns today from [international duty with] Wales, and assess if the pain in his foot has stopped troubling his progress to return into first-team training. Our idea is to count on Gareth. I have told you lots and lots of times.
“Speculation has arisen with the player because of the quality that he has and the season that he had, the amazing moments of individual brilliance. Ideally, we would like the player to continue belonging to Tottenham. We are aware that Real Madrid are interested. It doesn’t mean that we are willing to negotiate.”
Whether Bale’s “injury” is actually an injury or a delay tactic to ensure the Welshman doesn’t get injured before the transfer window closes on Monday, September 2, we don’t know. But whatever the case is, the fact that Tottenham will be without Bale for the first two weeks of the season is a blow to the team’s chances of making an impact on the new season.
Here are tonight’s world soccer news headlines:
Premier League
- Spurs accept Gareth Bale will be out until the end of August — The Independent
- Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan refuses to rule out prospect of changing club’s name — Telegraph
- Southampton agree fee with Roma for Pablo Osvaldo — Football Italia
- Liverpool favourites to sign £30m-rated Willian — Telegraph
- AIA to support Spurs’ 2013/14 cup campaigns — SportsPro
- Swansea City’s Luke Moore to hold talks with Turkish side Elazygspor — Evening Post
- What could you buy for the price of Gareth Bale? — KickTV
- 100s of websites blocked after UK Premier League drops ball — The Register
- Arsene Wenger vows Arsenal will be busy in the transfer market — Sky Sports
- Isaac Mizrahi analyzes the best and worst new EPL kits — ESPN FC
- Stoke keen on signing Mevlut Erdinc — The Mail
- ESPN FC celebrates one-year anniversary — ESPN
- Cardiff City planning on expanding their stadium — Cardiff City
- Mark Lawrenson’s predictions features guest predictions by Ted Lasso — BBC Sport
- NBC bets big on British soccer — Marketplace
- Here comes the Premier League – but where are the Aussies? — The Guardian
- FIFA 14 to feature more accurate stadiums — FIFA Soccer Blog
- FOX Sports 1 to launch across all major distributors on Saturday — TV By The Numbers
- WatchESPN for iPad now serves up stats, scores and on-demand clips via a live toolbar — The Next Web
- Fulham FC boss Martin Jol angry at Crystal Palace FC manager Ian Holloway — Newcastle Chronicle
- Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole stripped of No 6 shirt — The Mail
- Everton supporters plan Martinez March in support of new boss — ToffeeWeb
- Should Spurs sell off their promising academy stars to buy expensive foreigners? — Cartilage Free Captain
International soccer
- A night to remember in Sarajevo after hat trick against Bosnia-Herzegovina — ESPN FC
- 18 gloriously drunken photos of the Tartan Army in London — Buzzfeed
- ESPN’s Nine for IX Series continues with The 99ers, premiering August 20 — ESPN
- Scotland want to host England match at Hampden Park in 2015 — The Guardian
- Joe Hart’s place as England’s first-choice goalkeeper is under threat, says Roy Hodgson — Telegraph
Football League
- Jennifer Aniston becomes a Watford fan during a BBC interview — 101GG
- Esteban Granero: QPR midfielder joins Real Sociedad on loan — BBC Sport
Liga MX
US soccer
- Omar Gonzalez signs new multi-year deal with LA Galaxy — FOX Soccer
- “The League can’t force me to sell Chivas USA”: Jorge Vergara — Hoy Los Angeles
- Remote warehouse contains more U.S. soccer history than anyplace else — Indy Week
- Chivas USA sued by former employee — again — Pro Soccer Talk
La Liga
The Nightly Soccer Report is tomorrow’s news today. It’s often tomorrow morning’s worldwide newspaper headlines that are published the night before. We do all the work for you, combing the Internet and aggregating the news for you. Read The Nightly Soccer Report on World Soccer Talk every night before bed, so you can stay on top of all the news that matters.
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