Gareth Bale... linked with move to Real Madrid.

Tottenham Hotspur director Keith Mills says the Premier League club cannot force Gareth Bale to stay if the player decides he wants to leave for Real Madrid.

“If a player is desperate to leave, it’s very difficult to force him to stay,” Mills said.

“We’ve seen it in other clubs,” he told London’s Evening Standard newspaper yesterday. “Even if he has a contract, you can’t force somebody to play for you.”

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said last week that the La Liga club were in talks with Spurs to buy Bale, with speculation mounting that the 24-year-old, voted English Footballer of the Year last season, wants to move for a world-record fee.

Bale is still under contract at the north London club, where chairman Daniel Levy is renowned as a tough negotiator as Madrid discovered when buying Croatian midfielder Luka Modric from Spurs last year.

Spurs have strengthened their squad for the coming season with the addition of Brazil midfielder Paulinho from Corinthians, in a deal worth 17 million pounds ($26.06 million), and Belgium winger Nacer Chadli from Dutch side Twente Enschede for a fee that media reports said was in the region of seven million pounds.

On Monday, they confirmed the club-record transfer of Valencia striker Roberto Soldado for €30 million ($39.72 million).