Sky Sports journalist Paul Gilmour has been discussing Gareth Bale’s loan move to Tottenham Hotspur from Real Madrid and how the Welshman has fared so far.
This comes after Gilmour recently made an appearance on The Sky Sports Football Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the north London club.
On the subject of Bale and his current loan spell with the Lilywhites, Gilmour had this to say on the matter, including how the people behind the scenes at the club view it.
He said: “Gareth Bale didn’t really feature much in the early part of the season, as the club tried to get him up to speed and they tried to get him as close to full fitness as possible.
“But in that time, he was quite unlucky because even if he was close to full fitness, the team was playing quite well and he wasn’t getting in, and then all of a sudden, when they go through a bad patch, that’s the time when you need somebody else to take the place of a player who’s out of form or injured or something like that.
“Clearly, they feel that Gareth Bale hasn’t delivered that yet.”
Bale returned to Spurs on a loan deal back in September after originally leaving the club for a mega-money move to Real Madrid in 2013.
TIF Thoughts on Paul Gilmour’s comments about Bale…
Since returning to the north London club, the 31-year-old, who is currently valued at £18 million, has made 17 appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side across all competitions, in which he has managed to score five goals along the way (per Transfermarkt).
Given how Bale has suffered his fair share of injury issues since coming back to Spurs and also not having a consistent run of games in the Premier League so far, it’s understandable why Gilmour has said that the people behind the scenes at the club feel they haven’t got the most out of the winger as of yet.
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In our view, unless Bale can get his fitness in check and start putting in some good performances for the club on a regular basis with some goals and assists under his belt, his loan spell will ultimately be seen as a disappointing one by the end of the season.
Hopefully for Spurs, his latest strike in midweek can be the start of a revival of sorts for the winger.