Jurgen Klinsmann has expressed his “love” for the idea of Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale returning to Tottenham Hotspur during the summer transfer window.
Bale has found himself an outcast in Madrid for the last two seasons with Zinedine Zidane making little openings for the Wales star to play regularly, while injuries have meant the 31-year-old last featured in more than 70 per cent of all league fixtures in the 2014/15 season.
A difficult 2015/16 campaign failed to prevent Bale from signing new, improved terms at the Santiago Bernabeu, though, with the Southampton product putting pen to paper on a whopping £600,000-per-week deal – £350,000 after tax – that sees him through to the summer of 2022.
Bales’ luxurious wage has made a transfer away from Spain extremely challenging, while a potential move to China last year was called off at the eleventh-hour when Real insisted on receiving a transfer fee.
With reports now suggesting Jose Mourinho wants to see Chairman Daniel Levy test Madrid’s stance, Klinsmann has expressed his hope of seeing Bale put his career ahead of building money in the bank.
“Time goes by so fast as a player and you cannot waste it,” Klinsmann told talkSPORT. “This is the worst punishment for a player to be on the bench.”
The German added that finances made staying at Real worthwhile for Bale earlier in his career, but money is not the only thing the £25.2m-rated Welshman should be counting as he nears the twilight years of his playing career.
“There is a point in time when you become a professional player when you would like to earn a decent amount of money that you can put on the side to feel a bit more safe. But once that goal is achieved, there is only one other thing that matters – playing and scoring goals and building your playing record.
“You want to leave the game one day in your 30s and say: ‘Ok, look at my career there, I managed to score in X-amount of teams and X-amount of goals in different competitions’. Money doesn’t matter anymore. Money has no influence on that decision right now that Gareth has to make.
“A player like him, we would like to admire him week in, week out on the television. As a Tottenham fan, I would love him to come back to Spurs.”
Could you ever see Bale back at Spurs?
Yes
No
As much as Klinsmann would “love” to see Bale lining up in north London again, Spurs pursuing a transfer would most probably be living hell for Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy given the finances likely involved for a deal to occur.
Levy has been touted previously to be one of the game’s toughest yet most respected negotiators having overseen Spurs’ growth since the early-2000s, over which his shrewd business helped the club reach a point where it could build a state-of-the-art new ground, training facilities and reach the Champions League Final on a modest budget.
Signing Bale would no doubt go against the word ‘modest’, unless the Welshman is willing to accept a drastic pay cut and put playing football ahead of securing his – and his family’s – financial safety for potentially generations to come.
Sometimes family does need to come first, and Bale will know he will set his up for years to come by gleefully watching Real Madrid from the bench or his home for the next two years.
A change of heart may already be on the horizon, though, as Marca have reported that Bale is due to hold crunch talks with the Los Blancos board to see if they can find an amicable solution to the current situation given he is not a part of Zidane’s plans once more.