Reports: Tottenham tried to sabotage Arsenal’s Ozil deal with a secret Gareth Bale clause

Real Madrid decided to offload German international Mesut Ozil after completing the transfer of Gareth Bale

Tottenham Hotspur attempted to block Mesut Ozil’s proposed move to city rivals Arsenal last summer as part of the <world record transfer of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, report the Telegraph.

Spurs agreed an £85 million deal to sell their Welsh talisman to the Spanish giants only after they failed to insert a clause that would have stopped Los Blancos from selling four of their players to English clubs.

The named players included Ozil, midfielder Angel Di Maria, striker Karim Benzema, who had attracted widespread interest from the Premier League, and full-back Fabio Coentrao. The Portuguese defender was also the subject of interest from Manchester United, who eventually failed in a deadline day attempt to lure him to Old Trafford.

Clauses in football contracts are a fabric woven into the modern game but, Spurs’ attempts to deny several of their rivals the opportunity to sign the quartet is nothing less than extraordinary.

However, the north Londoners did not directly attempt Arsenal from signing Ozil as they were simply intent on denying him the opportunity to join an English club if they could not incorporate him into the Bale deal.

The legal complexities of such an agreement did not materialise and Tottenham’s belief that they carried enough clout in the transfer to stop one of the world’s biggest clubs from choosing who to sell their players to despite not being in the Champions League themselves is remarkable.

Since Bale left the club Tottenham have endured a difficult campaign and are set to finish outside of a qualification spot for Europe’s pinnacle club competition once again.