It has been a transfer window sprinkled with its fair share of surprises, but it might take a very tough act to outdo Gareth Bale’s potential comeback to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Welshman is reported to be close to joining his former club on a year-long loan deal from parent club Real Madrid after a seven-year spell full of trophies, capped off by the last couple of years filled with controversy and a clash of interest with manager Zinedine Zidane.
Though the former PFA Player of the Year winner won an abundance of silverware at the Spanish capital, he never really settled in Spain over seven years: and a move back to the Premier League where he has previously run riot in, is an offer that is too good to refuse.
Tottenham Hotspur will look to secure Bale’s services once again on weekly wages of £600,000, a part of which a desperate Real Madrid are willing to pay.
The deal seems more or less confirmed as eagle-eyed fans have now spotted a booking at the Hadley Wood Golf Club that shows Gareth Bale will also be playing golf with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and chief scout Steve Hitchen in London tomorrow –
The cold war between Bale and Real Madrid has been very evident in recent years: while his antics and press conferences while on national team duty added spark to the flame, his well-documented obsession with golf has also been deeply scrutinized for a lack of professional behaviour, which eventually led to widespread unhappiness amongst the Real Madrid camp as Bale displayed a banner which read “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order” after representing his national team in October 2019.
Bale originally joined Spurs from Southampton in 2007, and later joined the record European champions for a then world record transfer fee of £85m in 2013.
The controversy-filled last part of his Madrid spell doesn’t quite hold a candle to his better days at the club, as he scored over 100 goals for Los Blancos, struck three times in Champions League finals, winning the competition four times in the process.
Bale also gets to rejoin the club he almost single-handedly changed the whole dynamics of, scoring 26 goals and 15 assists in all competitions in his last season for Spurs, and securing a clean sweep for both the PFA Players’ Players of the Year as well as the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2013.
The deal, as of now, is a win-win for either party involved, as Real get to offload a player not in their plans while Jose Mourinho adds an extra dimension to their options in attack.