West Brom midfielder Isaiah Brown will become the youngest player to appear in the Premier League if he makes his debut against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Steve Clarke has confirmed Brown will be part of his squad for the trip to West London and he could be named on the bench at the tender age of 16 years and 54 days.
If the England U17 international does feature at some point, he will surpass Fulham's Matthew Briggs' previous record, set in 2007, by 11 days.
Albion have been struggling with injuries and had to seek permission to take Brown out of school to train with the squad this week.
The teenager has been part of Albion's academy set-up for the past three years, with Arsenal understood to be tracking his progress after he impressed for their U18 and U21 sides.
He is currently studying his GCSE exams but West Brom's recently acquired status as a Category One academy means they can take over young players' academic studies.
Brown would also be Albion's second youngest debutant if he plays, behind only Frank Hodgetts, who was 16 years and 26 days when he appeared against Notts Country in 1940 in a war-time contest.
The Wales forward has been linked with Real, and their big rivals Barca, after a stunning season that has seen him fire in 23 goals for club and country.
Madrid are thought to have made the 23-year-old their number one transfer target, and Bale would no doubt be tempted by a move to the nine-times European champions should they come calling this summer.
Villas-Boas remains confident of hanging on to his man, however, and the Tottenham boss warned Real president Fiorentino Perez he would find it extremely hard to deal with his opposite number Daniel Levy.
He also believes Bale can realise his aims with Spurs.
"I think for a player to develop to his full potential, it can be done perfectly in this league," Villas-Boas said. "I think Gareth has that in mind, not only regarding Spurs but regarding this league too.
"We have the best league in the world in my opinion. The best clubs are continuing to attract the best players over.
"We don't want Gareth to go by any circumstances. I have told you in the past that our chairman is very, very difficult to deal with.
"We will try to hold on to our assets. We believe that we have to hold on to the best players in order to achieve our objectives."
Thompson joined Tranmere Rovers from Dale last summer and has scored twice in 22 appearances for the League One promotion-chasers.
Tranmere have the option to recall the 23-year-old after the first 28 days of his spell at Spotland.
"Joe needs games and due to injuries and the form of other players he's not played as much as he would have wanted here," said manager Ronnie Moore on Rovers' official website.
"This gives him the opportunity to play first team football at a club he knows very well."
