Tottenham fans will all have their heroes from years gone by, and for a lot of Lilywhites, one of those will be Gareth Bale. The Welshman hit some incredible numbers in his days as a Spurs player, scoring 56 goals in his 203 games across a six-year spell, and he could now be set to return.
According to Spanish outlet Marca, Zinedine Zidane is desperate to be rid of Bale and has spoken to the player about this, which is part of the reason why the Welshman is so keen on a return to the Premier League, as Spurs have supposedly offered a fee of between 50m and 60m euros (£45m and £54m).
This comes after Bale’s sixth season at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, having signed for the Madrid giants back in 2013 in what was a then-world-record move that saw Spurs receive a whopping £85m for their talisman (BBC).
Marca are usually at the forefront of all news when it comes to Los Blancos, but as they’ve run this story on the Lilywhites’ interest in Bale, The Daily Mail have hit back with comments from Jonathan Barnett, Bale’s agent, who has simply replied by saying ‘nothing has changed’.
It’s impossible to know how far along this potential transfer is, or if it’s even got off the ground at all yet, but what we do know is that Bale’s wages would shatter the wage structure that Daniel Levy has in place at Tottenham, and should he sign for the club he’d need to cut his reported 17m euro annual earnings in half, as per Marca’s report.
Whilst the technicalities of this one are increasingly complicated, and show no sign of getting any simpler, the idea of Bale returning to Tottenham is an exciting one from a fan’s point of view.
Just the mention of Bale’s name brings back memories of the 77-cap international bending left-footed efforts from range into the top corner against West Ham, Sunderland and West Brom, that hat-trick against Inter Milan and his 30 goal and assist Premier League season in 2012/13.
The current Tottenham side is a long way from what it was when Bale left, though, and with the likes of Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Dele Alli starring in North London, Bale would be another world star in a team that is slowly becoming full of them.
It’s hard to imagine Mauricio Pochettino sanctioning a deal for a player whose wages may cause a rift in the squad, but if you’re to look at the talent alone of the player in question, Bale is almost certainly a star who the Lilywhites should be dying to bring back, especially as they pursue a first trophy in 12 years next season.