By Andrew Warshaw
September 21 – He’s 31 and is carrying an injury but seven years after leaving for Real Madrid for a then world-record fee, Gareth Bale has turned the clock back by sensationally returning to Tottenham Hotspur in a bid to reignite his career.
Bale, who won a string of trophies in Madrid yet was inexplicably marginalised by Real manager Zinedine Zidane, completed a one-year loan back to the club where he made his name at the weekend in the most eye-catching and unexpected move of the summer transfer window to date.
“It’s such a special club to me. It’s where I made my name,” said Bale, more than half of whose eye-watering salary will be paid by Real. “Incredible to be back and now I hope I can get some match fitness and get underway and really help the team.”
Not quite yet, however. Bale is carrying a slight knee injury, reportedly sustained on international duty, and is not expected to make his second Spurs debut until after the October international programme.
Once he does, the eyes of the footballing world will be on him to see whether he still has the goalscoring prowess, lightning pace and passing skills that used to light up the old White Hart Lane ground and did so, more often than he was given credit for, during his time in Madrid too.
Nothing summed up Bale’s love affair with the Spurs fans more than the night in 2010 when he destroyed one of the best right backs in world football during Spurs’ 3-1 Champions League over Inter Milan, prompting chants of ‘Taxi for Maicon’.
But his box office move back to Spurs is as much a gamble for Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho, yet to convince the majority of the club’s fans that he is an improvement on Mauricio Pochettino, as it is for the Welshman himself who scored 55 goals in six seasons with Spurs before his then-record €100 million move to Madrid.
On paper, it’s a win-win situation but while Pochettino’s success in taking Spurs to a succession of top-four Premier League finishes and the Champions League final was achieved with limited spending, Mourinho, who coveted Bale when he managed both Real and Manchester United, now has one of the most famous players in the world at his disposal.
The stakes could not be much higher. Mourinho, don’t forget, was sacked from his previous two jobs but it appears his longevity of success was the catalyst for acquiring Bale’s services.
“He was a big reason for me coming back here, he’s a household name and a winner,” said Bale. “He’s the perfect fit for Tottenham. We need to win trophies and he knows how to do that better than anyone. I know every Tottenham fan is desperate for a trophy and we’ll be trying as hard as possible in every competition to do that.”
Something that hasn’t happened for 12 long years.
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