Technical secretary Albert Valentin is Barca's head scout and travelled to London last weekend, where he attended Spurs' clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage. Bale turned in another decent display in the 3-1 win, opening the scoring in the first-half and Valentin, who reports directly back to technical secretary Andoni Zuibizarreta, is sure to have filed a positive report. The Catalan media claim Bale's versatility to play left-back or in midfield is a huge attraction to Barca and their coach Pep Guardiola. Barca are keen to add a left-back to their squad as contract talks with Eric Abidal continue to stall and are also being tracking the progress of Valencia's Spanish international Jordi Alba. Valentin's report will be crucial in determining if Barca make their interest concrete next summer, but reports in Spain cite Tottenham's asking price of more than 40 million euros as a stumbling block. Bale put pen-to-paper on a new deal at White Hart Lane in March that sees him tied to the north London outfit until 2015, although he did state earlier this year that he would have no qualms in moving abroad.
