Tottenham Transfer News: Spurs Deserve Praise for Handling of Gareth Bale's Exit

The potential transfer of superstar winger Gareth Bale from Tottenham to Real Madrid has been one of the biggest storylines in world football over the past couple months, and while it seemingly took an eternity to complete, Spurs have officially sent Bale on his way, according to Rob Harris of the Associated Press.

Los Blancos made the deal official as the club tweeted that Bale will be under contract for the next six seasons.

It would be very easy for Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas and the rest of the Spurs brass to be bitter about the situation due to the fact that they were essentially forced into selling one of the world's best players, but Villas-Boas' comments reflect positively on the club as they couldn't have possibly handled the Bale saga any better.

Bale was the driving force behind Tottenham's fantastic 2012-13 EPL season as Spurs finished fifth, just one point behind Arsenal and three behind Chelsea. Tottenham fans were hopeful that Spurs could take the next step this season by joining the EPL's elite, but Bale's departure essentially makes that impossible for the time being.

The Welsh dynamo netted 26 goals for Tottenham last season and allowed Tottenham to measure up favorably to some of the league's best clubs.

Bale was rewarded for his efforts by being named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year, Professional Footballers' Association Players' Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year. That made Bale just the second player to ever win all three awards in one season, along with new Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Bale's importance to Tottenham simply cannot be understated. According to Squawka Football, Bale created more chances last season than both Ronaldo and Barcelona star Lionel Messi, so Spurs are perhaps losing a generational talent.

Also, according to WhoScored.com, Tottenham would have accrued 24 fewer points in EPL play without Bale last season.

That would have put them in ninth place just behind West Bromwich Albion and ahead of Swansea City. Tottenham figure to finish somewhere in that general vicinity this season without Bale, so it promises to be a trying year for the club's supporters.

Bale was acquired by Tottenham in 2007, and he slowly but surely developed into one of the world's best players during his time at White Hart Lane. Bale finished his Spurs career with 55 goals for the club, according to Tottenham's official Twitter account.

Spurs won't come away empty-handed in this deal, though, as the acquisition cost Madrid €100 million, according to Joe Prince-Wright of NBC Sports.

Tottenham should be able to make some positive moves with that money moving forward, but Bale was expected to be a huge part of the club's future at just 24 years of age. That fact wasn't lost on Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy as selling Bale was essentially the last thing he wanted to do.

Rather than turning the situation into a circus reminiscent of what is going on with Liverpool and Luis Suarez currently, Tottenham took the high road. It's certainly possible that granting Bale's transfer wish will cause future stars to walk all over Tottenham as well, but there would have been no point in keeping an unhappy Bale in the picture as a toxic attitude could have infiltrated the squad.

Bale admittedly had Tottenham in a compromising position as they didn't have many options. The powers that be at Tottenham could have raked Bale through the coals and bashed him publicly, but much to their credit, they didn't Similarly, Bale was mostly quiet in the press as well, so the breakup wasn't messy at the end of day.

If karma is real, then Tottenham should have some good things happen to them moving forward. Perhaps other star players will see the way that Spurs handled the Bale situation and think that they might like to play for Tottenham one day.

Most understandably see the glass as being half-empty right now, but at least Tottenham fans can be proud of the way their club conducts itself.

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