Manchester United prepares £60m bid for Tottenham star Gareth Bale

Manchester United turns their attentions to signing Gareth Bale after seeing a move for one of their top transfer targets falter.

The Premier League champions saw long-term target Spain Under 21 star Thiago Alcantara choose to leave Barcelona to join former manager Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich.

But United are desperate to back new manager David Moyes in his title defence and are great admirers of Tottenham winger Bale, who picked up three player of the year awards last season after scoring 21 League goals for Spurs.

Uruguayan defender Guillermo Varela is United's sole signing this summer, but the club could launch a bid as high as £60million for Bale this month, according to the Daily Mirror.

But United remain wary of being sucked into a drawn-out summer transfer saga with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy that could result in United missing out on Bale or paying above the odds.

Bale, 24, has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer, with the Spanish giants keen to pair the Wales star with former United forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

United have done business with Tottenham in the past of course. The deadline-day signing of Dimitar Berbatov for £30.75m remains the club’s record signing.

Most recently though, relations between the two clubs were more strained after Tottenham snapped up former United youngster Zeki Fryers from Standard Liege for £3m.Sir Alex Ferguson was critical of the move, claiming a deal was pre-planned after Spurs refused to stump up the £6m asking price while the promising defender was still at United.