Back to Townsend: he looks a very exciting prospect and has already proved himself at Premiership level to a certain extent, so if he is going to improve even further, he’s a very exciting prospect indeed having just turned 22. Overall, Junior Hoops members selected him as their Player of the Season despite being at the club for under five months and he, dare I say, looked as good as Bale at times (in terms of actual physical looks, he could pass for being Lewis Hamilton’s father despite being over six and a half years younger than the racing driver, but that’s another tale entirely.
If the media had Townsend down as 23, I would hazard a guess that they got it wrong and meant 32, although that would mean he would still have been only three and a half years old when Hamilton was born. As it is, he’s recorded as being 22, and however much you try and swap those two numbers round, it will always be 22, so I doubt that he is Lewis Hamilton’s father). And don’t forget that Spurs have Danny Rose back from his loan spell with Sunderland where he won their Young Player of the Year award. He’s a left-sided player who can also work well further up the field from his normal left-back position, like a – dare I say ‘dare I say’ again? – younger Gareth Bale. So he’s also like another new signing in a way.
Antonio Valencia was brought in at United near the time of Ronaldo’s departure, maybe not as a direct replacement, but as someone who could play a similar role to him. Valencia can be terrific at times, but you wouldn’t equate him with the man he ‘replaced’ in terms of ability and effectiveness. Still, the club have won two league titles and reached a Champions League final in the four seasons since Ronaldo’s departure, so it doesn’t have to mean the end of Tottenham’s top-four dream if Bale does likewise. Clubs often lose their best player and move on.
It’s when they lose more than two or three without adequately replacing them that they start going downhill. Bale is arguably more effective than Luka Modric ever was, but they brought in others to fill the void left by the Croatian and ended up acquiring their highest points total in the Premier League era last season. No side wants to lose their best players, but if it’s a good side that is prepared to stay at the top end of football then they cope (unlike say, Blackburn Rovers after their title in 1995). And that is what Tottenham, using everything from their youth system to their scouting network, will have to work around if Bale leaves.
Do you think Tottenham can still qualify for the Champions League without Gareth Bale? Feel free to leave me any comments on here and/or on Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr or YouTube:
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Good article. Not entirely accurate but I can tell you are very passionate about the game which is fantastic!