Former Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal director of football Damien Comolli expects Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain (PSG) to join Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the race to sign Gareth Bale.

The 41-year-old, who brought the 23-year-old Welsh international from Southampton to White Hart Lane, believes the cash-rich PSG outfit will actively pursue the forward, despite the player's stated preference for Real Madrid and the Spanish league.

Gareth Bale
Reuters

"When you leave Tottenham and you are a player like Bale, there are only three or four clubs you can go to. If PSG know the player is on the market - and there is a possibility - it wouldn't surprise me if they did everything in their power to get him," Comolli said.

The Spanish champions are favourites to land Bale, with reports of a mammoth £30m-plus-player deal believed to be in the pipeline. Club president Florentino Perez will reportedly offer either Croatian Luka Modric or Argentine Gonzalo Higuain in exchange for Bale's services.

Meanwhile, incoming Bayern manager Pep Guardiola is also believed to be a fan of Bale and is expected to make a summer bid to bring him to the Allianz ArenA.

As for Spurs themselves, chairman Daniel Levy and manager Andre Villas-Boas are keen on retaining Bale for at least one more year and they believe a substantially improved contract (a reported £130,000 per week; the highest paid player in the club's history) and Champions League football will persuade the winger to remain in north London.

Spurs' race to next season's Champions League suffered a setback on Sunday evening, when they lost to Liverpool at Anfield. The defeat leaves them only two points ahead of Chelsea in fourth and seven in front of Arsenal in fifth; both the Blues and the Gunners have a game in hand.

Tottenham, meanwhile, must pick themselves up and prepare to face Serie A side Inter Milan in a midweek fixture. The two sides will face-off in the Giueseppe Meazza in Milan, for the second leg of their UEFA Europa League knock-out tie. The good news for Spurs fans is their side will take a massive 3-0 advantage to Italy.

The bad news is Bale has been suspended for this fixture, after a yellow card for diving in the first leg at the Lane.