Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon claims Tottenham star Gareth Bale is trying hard to leave the north London club for the nine-time European champions. The 24-year-old Welshman is a hot transfer target for the La Liga giants.

Gareth Bale
Reuters

Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti earlier confirmed that talks are ongoing between two clubs while Andre Villas-Boas remains hopeful that the Premier League Player and Young Player of the Year will reject a move to join the Spanish capital club.

"It seems that he is pushing very hard to leave Tottenham. I experienced the same with Cristiano Ronaldo," Calderon told talkSPORT.

Calderon also went on to state that Bale's desire to join Madrid is not motivated by money. He believes Bale's move is backed by the player's desire to win silverware and personal glory.

"The player is not looking for money in this. What he is looking for is the opportunity to get trophies and personal awards and recognition. It seems that Gareth Bale thinks he can get that at Real Madrid so now it's just down to how strong he is going to be in his idea to move," he said.

Any move from the Spanish side for Bale could cost them over €100m. However, Madrid president Florentino Perez has suggested that the asking price is too high.

"If you say €100m, I would say that seems a lot ... for anything. I'm not going to speak about it because I shouldn't and I can't," Perez stressed.

Calderon insists his former club are still keen on signing Bale, and Perez's recent remarks are a tactic to reduce the asking price.

"Maybe it's part of the game to pretend that you are not very interested in paying the amount of money they are talking about. It may be a tactic in order to get the player for less money. I don't know if the chairman of Tottenham is willing to accept an amount under [€100million]," Calderon concluded.