Gareth Bale flies back to prepare for transfer to Real Madrid

The Welshman had spent the past two days in Marbella, near Spain's south coast. Sources at the Spanish club have claimed that the transfer fee will be £78m, €90.8m, with Tottenham suggesting that it will be closer to €100m (£85m). Bale will sign a six-year contract, with an annual salary close to €10m a year net (£8.5m), taking the cost of the total package to more than €200m (£172m).

Real Madrid and Tottenham have yet to confirm the move officially but reports in Spain insisted that the deal was done following a meeting last Wednesday night.

Bale is due to fly into Luton on Monday, where he will await the all-clear before returning to Madrid in a private jet, arriving at a small airport to the west of the city, Kazinform has learnt from the Guardian.

Madrid hope to be able to present Bale on Tuesday afternoon, ready for the lunchtime news bulletins. But if they are to give time to the world's media to fly to the Spanish capital, they must announce on Monday or wait a little longer. On Monday night, Madrid travel to Granada for their second league game of the season.

There had been suggestions that Bale's signing would be announced on Friday of last week and presented on Saturday, so as not to overshadow a match held in honour of the former captain Raúl.

If that was truly the intention, it failed: the following morning, the cover of the country's best-selling newspaper was a wrap-around dominated by Bale, not Raúl.

Photographs from the Bernabéu showed that, following that match, Madrid had begun to construct a stage in front of the directors' box in readiness to present Bale.

Sources at Spurs said on Monday that there was a rival offer on the table for Bale, but refused to say who the offer was from or when it had come in.

Manchester United and Paris St-Germain had been monitoring Bale during the summer but it is known that his heart is set solely on Madrid.