Gareth Bale is back at Hotspur Way, training for the club which gave him the platform to make himself a household name in England.
Acquired from the Southampton academy, the Welshman was incredible in his six years at Tottenham Hotspur before being purchased by Real Madrid for a then record transfer fee in the summer of 2013.
Bale would go on to win four European titles for Los Galacticos and cement his legacy with more than 100 goals for Real: including three goals in UEFA Champions League finals.
Recurring injury trouble, ‘unsettled’ reports and a fall out with the club authorities meant an uneventful departure was inevitable.
Bale wanted a return to familiar territory, and was snapped up by former employers Spurs on a season-long loan.
His inclusion in the conversation of the very best players in the world is debatable right now, but a glimpse into his training routines might suggest that the 31-year-old forward is still elite and has a lot to offer to his team.
The Welsh captain seemed like a player reborn, as he showed flashes from his prime with his finishing drills: smashing the ball with ease into the unassailable corners of the goalposts, with his hammer of a left foot.
Out of the plethora of accurate finishes, one that caught the eye was when Bale found himself facing goalkeeping deputy Joe Hart in a situational drill.
Bale calmly used the outside of his left foot to slot the ball cheekily into the bottom left corner of the goal, with Hart rooted to the middle of the goal: the former Manchester City goalkeeper looked visibly awestruck by Bale’s immense technique and accuracy.
Meanwhile, at Hotspur Way… 👀#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/EXmtjoABal
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 12, 2020
After being frozen out of the first team set up by manager Zinedine Zidane, Bale is going to be back playing for the North London outfit for whom he scored 55 goals in 203 appearances in all competitions, running menacingly up and down the left flank.
Though he couldn’t lift a trophy for his team in his previous spell in England, Bale achieved a remarkable individual feat by winning both the PFA Player of the Year and the PFA Young Player of the Year awards for the 2012/13 season: right before he left for Spain.
Serial winner and current Spurs manager José Mourinho would like to add another feather to his cap by winning silverware with Tottenham Hotspur, and continue his streak of winning major trophies for every club he has managed in his career.
The special one would love to witness a shift in mentality in his predominantly young dressing room, with a majority of the players inexperienced when it comes to winning major trophies.
And it is very hard to look any further than Gareth Bale in that respect, a former Galactico with a history of scoring goals in the biggest of matches for Real Madrid.