Harry Redknapp believes Manchester United will have to wait to sign Real Madrid star Gareth Bale

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp believes Gareth Bale will return to the Premier League, but says a move to Manchester United before the end of the current transfer window is unlikely to happen. The former QPR boss also said that he cannot see Neymar leaving Barcelona to play at Old Trafford.

Louis van Gaal has admitted a number of times during the summer that the Premier League giants need to add speed to their attack following the departure of Angel Di Maria to Paris Saint Germain. But speaking last weekend after the goalless draw against Newcastle, he indicated the club will only buy a striker if the player available is the best in the world.

"I don't think we need a striker. If he is the best striker in the world then yes, we need him, but if he cannot contribute in our eyes, then we won't buy any striker. But when he does, we shall buy," Van Gaal admitted as quoted in The Telegraph.

ESPN recently reported that the Premier League giants had not given up in their hope of signing Bale and would make a new bid to lure him from Real Madrid before the end of the transfer window. Meanwhile, Brazilian publication Globo Esporte claimed last week that, after missing out on Chelsea new signing Pedro Rodriguez, the Red Devils made a €190m (£140m) bid to secure the services of Neymar.

Both reports suggest that van Gaal is ready to break the bank before the end of the transfer window to sign a new marquee star. But Redknapp believes that at this stage "it going to be difficult to get big-name players".

But though Redknapp rules out the arrival of Neymar to Old Trafford, he is more optimistic about the possibilities of his former star player at Tottenham making the move back to the Premier League.

"I can't see Neymar moving from Barcelona to Manchester United. No disrespect to United, [but] I can't see him wanting to leave Spain to play here now," he wrote on Kicca.

"I'm a big Bale fan. He's proved it over here. Both he and Neymar would be sensational players for anyone that could get them.

"But I wouldn't see Neymar as a possibility. Bale may be a possibility at one stage. He'll come home at one stage. But I'd be surprised if either came now. It's going to be difficult get big-name players from big clubs now at this stage in the window."