Barcelona Chief Warns Spurs on Gareth Bale's Price-Tag

Barcelona have long since been linked to Tottenham Hotspur star Gareth Bale and the Spanish giants' president Sandro Rosell finally broke his silence regarding the player.

Rosell, who tried to step away from the issue while in a TV interview so as to not risk increasing Bale's asking-price, warned Spurs that their £33.2 million rating of the player is overpriced.

The Catalan club's president also revealed that he would leave it to his technical staff to decide on the player.

Is Bale of interest to us? I won't say and even if it was true I wouldn't talk about it because that would automatically increase the price, said Rosell in Al Jazeera. Spurs wouldn't demand 40m Euros but 50m.

It is up to our technical staff to decide on the player. But we would never pay €40m (£33.2m) for him.

Barca manager Pep Guardiola is believed to be interested in the player, following his eye-catching performances in the Champions League last season, and had even sent his scout to watch the Welshman during Spurs' match against Fulham in the previous Premiership weekend.

Spurs have always maintained that the player is not for sale, but with top clubs from across Europe asking about him, his value has shot-up.