Gareth Bale is set to give despondent Tottenham fans a much-needed boost by confirming he has signed a new contract to stay at the club.

Standard Sport understands the Wales international, who scored his 31st goal of the season in the 1-0 win over Sunderland yesterday , has committed his future to the club with a £130,000-a-week deal and will remain at White Hart Lane next season.

An announcement is expected to be made by the club shortly, which will provide Tottenham fans with a huge lift after losing their bid to beat Arsenal to a place in the top four.

Bale, 23, is a target for many of Europe’s top clubs this summer, including Real Madrid and Manchester United, but is going nowhere despite Tottenham’s failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Standard Sport revealed in March that the forward would be offered a new and improved contract with the Tottenham hierarchy determined to keep him, regardless of where they finished in the table, in much the same way they blocked Luka Modric’s transfer two years ago.

Significantly, Bale’s relationship with the club is much stronger than his predecessor’s was at the time — Modric demanded a transfer on three occasions — and is focused on helping Tottenham succeed next term anyway. It is believed, though, that the Welshman is likely to be allowed to leave in 12 months’ time should an enormous bid — in excess of £50million — come in for him.

In a message to the club’s fans on the eve of their 1-0 win over Sunderland yesterday, chairman Daniel Levy insisted: “Looking ahead to the summer, we shall continue to seek to strengthen and improve the team and to retain key players.”

Afterwards, boss Andre Villas-Boas also gave a huge hint that he expected the club to keep Bale and be given funds to strengthen the squad, too.

Asked about Bale’s future, the Portuguese said: “This is an ongoing question but it’s absolutely fine.

“If we want to make it better next season we have to hold on to our best assets and this is what I have been told from the top.

“The reference from the points tally is there so for us to make it better we need to keep hold of the best assets. It is very difficult to lure a player of this dimension away.”

Meanwhile, Gylfi Sigurdsson today claimed Bale was virtually irreplaceable as Spurs contemplated another Europa League campaign despite the player’s brilliance this season.

Bale’s 21 Premier League goals — the best return for a Spurs player since Teddy Sheringham in 1992-93 — were not enough to earn Tottenham a place in the top four as they were edged out of Champions League qualification by a single point by Arsenal for the second successive year. Spurs finished fourth last season but missed out on a place in Europe’s main club competition because of Chelsea’s victory in the 2012 final.

This time, albeit under different circumstances, Tottenham’s London rivals have denied them again.

With Bale crucial to Spurs’s future plans, Sigurdsson said: “I don’t think that there is a player who could replace him — perhaps only a couple — because he has been that good during this season.

“It’s very important that he stays. It’s always important for us to keep good players and he is a fantastic player.

“For us to push forward, it would be great if he stays.

“If he goes, I’m sure the club will get a lot of money for him.

“In that situation, hopefully he would be replaced by a few players because I don’t think there will be one player who can replace him.”

Villas-Boas has always expressed his belief that Bale would stay at White Hart Lane and Sigurdsson is similarly optimistic.

The Icelandic midfielder added: “Hopefully he will stay at the club. He’s been here for a long time, he’s very happy and he’s enjoying his football.”

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