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Real Madrid will use Fabio Coentrao as bait in their bid to sign Gareth Bale next summer, writes The People.

Bernabeu boss Jose Mourinho is trying to work how to get Spurs to part with the Welshman at the end of the season and hopes manager Andre Villas-Boas’s interest in the Portugal player might be the key.

Tottenham manager Villas-Boas tried to sign Coentrao when he was Chelsea’s manager but Real had already done a deal with Benfica.

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Spurs were keen on him in the summer when it became clear Modric was on his way to Madrid but Real wouldn’t do business. Now, though, Mourinho would let him go to get Bale.

Real hope that a deal worth around £30million – £12m of which would be made up by Coentrao – will be enough to convince Villas-Boas and chairman Daniel Levy to part with the Welshman.

Neither will want to lose the 23-year-old, who became a father last week, but Real are monitoring him closely this season.

The scout who discovered Bale’s talents has revealed that growing pains threatened to wreck the Tottenham star’s career before it had even begun.

Bale returns to Southampton today for the first time since moving to north London in a club record £10m deal in 2007, a fee that looks a snip now he’s rated one of the best players in the world.

The 23-year-old winger’s reputation has soared and he is now being talked of in the same breath as superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

But not many people know how close Bale came to being dumped on the scrapheap, according to Southampton scout Rod Ruddick.

Ruddick said: “Gareth struggled with injuries and was affected by a growth spurt. He was quite small but, like many teenagers, just shot up. His back was out of alignment, which meant he would struggle to run properly and at full pelt.

“He was almost released and who knows what might have happened? You have seen players fall out of love with the game after a rejection.”

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