Wales superstar Bale hightailed it back to Spurs on a season-long loan switch from Real Madrid in the summer, but has spent more time on the bench than in regular action under Jose Mourinho.
The Spurs boss insists he still loves Gareth Bale albeit claiming there are “complex” reasons why he is struggling.
Bale arrived as a sensational transfer coup for Tottenham in the summer when they brought him back to the club after signing him on a season-long loan deal from Real Madrid. Unfortunately for the Welsh superstar, he has managed just 161 minutes of Premier League football and was even left on the bench in midweek when Tottenham were trying to chase a late winner against Fulham.
Tottenham fans are getting increasingly baffled as to why Bale has continued to struggle for form and fitness, looking a pale shadow of the record £85m star who won the Champions League four times with Real Madrid to become the most successful British export of all time.
Tottenham boss Mourinho said:
“Gareth is a player that I always loved. In fact he went to Real Madrid because I spoke with the president when I was there and told him he was a guy I like very much.
“As a person he’s a really, really nice guy, a dressing room guy. The reasons he didn’t reach in this period the level that Tottenham supporters remember him is a complex answer.
“If Gareth was here we could speak a little bit about it but just by myself I’m not comfortable. If he’s happy when he sits on the bench I don’t think so. I honestly don’t think so.
“Everybody knew that in the past couple of seasons, in Madrid, they were not easy for him. So let’s go, step by step, and try to get the best out of him.”
Bale, 31, seems most unlikely to return to Madrid in the summer when his Spurs loan expires but Mourinho is ardent in insisting that has not been formally discussed yet.
He added:
“There was not even a second of discussion about that. Gareth is a player on loan until the end of the season. Not one second of discussion.
“We are speaking about, of course, Gareth himself, Real Madrid, Tottenham, but I promise you, not one second of discussion.”
Credit: Football Tribe Malaysia
