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Tottenham Hotspur: Gareth Bale move branded a ‘waste of money’ by ex-pro Carlton Palmer

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Former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer has called Gareth Bale’s move to Tottenham Hotspur a ‘waste of money’.

Despite there being plenty of excitement upon his return to North London, he hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype, only scoring four goals across all competitions and for the most part being seen as a backup player, playing only 713 minutes so far.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, Palmer slammed the move, saying that whilst there had to be some allowances given because of his injury problems, the value of what the club are paying versus what they’ve received in return just hasn’t been there:

“On the Gareth Bale situation, if that wasn’t at Tottenham, that would be an absolute catastrophe move and I thought it was inspired at the time. But it’s not looking to be that way at the moment and Tottenham are lucky that he’s not become a main player for them, or not needed to be a main player, because it’s not worked out at the moment.

“I knew he needed time to get his fitness up and get up to speed and whatever, but he should be ready to be playing an active part in the first team and delivering. Considering the wages they’re paying out to him at the moment, that’s turning out to be a bad, bad deal. At this moment, he’s been a waste of money because he’s not playing.”

TIF Thoughts on Carlton Palmer’s comments about Gareth Bale…

It is difficult to say whether Bale has been a total flop, because the expectation right from the beginning, at the very least in the eyes of head coach Jose Mourinho, was never going to be for him to be back to his brilliant best, such as what we saw during his final season before moving to Madrid. His role was there to offer support, allow key players like Harry Kane and Son Heung-min the chance to rest during cup and European games, and occasionally score the odd goal here and there to supplement the team, as he did against Wycombe Wanderers on Monday night.

Has the money been totally worth it? In terms of what they are paying Bale directly, perhaps not – and Palmer may have a point here – but what he brings to the team beyond just his goalscoring record is something that you can’t really put a number on.

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Freelance sports journalist & broadcaster.