Player Watch: Gareth Bale - Retires

[Yiddo100]

Wonder if it’s a free as has been suggested in some places or the loan with an option, with all the wages ect I can’t see us spending big money to sign him outright with a few unknowns

 

[leelee]

This. If they give up on Sancho then agreeing to pay half Bale's wages will be easy for them so it'll be done very quickly and we'll be left feeling like the second rate club who can never compete with the big boys. Again.

Would Madrid sell to a champions league rival? Especially taking into consideration Madrid have blocked Bale's departure before.

I reckon we will still have a great chance. Regardless of United.

 

[archiewasking]

Of course, if Bale does come and we finally win some silverware, you can guarantee that Mourinho's detractors will beat him with the old "can't win without spending obscene amounts" stick again. Not that I give two hoots about that.

 

[Gardham90]

I'm not sure that signing Bale would suddenly turn us in to title contenders. He's 31 and hasn't played much football in the last year. There is nothing I would love more than to see the Bale of old but I don't think it's realistic to expect it.

 

[rossdapep]

Would Madrid sell to a champions league rival? Especially taking into consideration Madrid have blocked Bale's departure before.

I reckon we will still have a great chance. Regardless of United.

Madrid and United don't have a great relationship either. They certainly won't be doing them any favours and they know they have larger amounts of money to spend

 

[Jamturk]

This move would I also suspect be based on the security of the sale of Harry Kane or Sonny at the end of this season.

 

[spursfan77]

Let's hope it's JJ's personal opinion and not his poo-pooing factual opinion - I wonder how much of the old Bale is left though?

That’s the million dollar question. Maybe he can rouse himself for one great hurrah. He’s been playing professional football since he was 16 though, maybe his body has just given up the ghost. It wouldn’t be a surprise.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Also if (big if) we bring in Bale we will have for 3 spots: Son, Bale, Dele, Lucas, Lamela, Bergwijn, Sessegnon, and Sissoko-ish (who Jose said himself is not a midfielder but plays there out of necessity). That's 7 first team players for 3 roles. I just can't see Spurs carrying that much in wages and talent even with all our competitions and it not causing a lot of squad balance issues and financial strain long term. At min 1-2 got to go. Especially since you can't drop Dele or Sissoko into midfield regularly where we also now have Lo Celso, Winks, Ndombele, and Hojbjerg for 2 spots.

From an emotion/nostalgia perspective ? bring Bale home. From a squad building/realist perspective it doesn't make sense to me yet.

Bolder players are the only ones competing for those three spots, that’s 2 good players per spot, perfect. Sessegnon seems likely to be LB this season and Sissoko seems to have reverted to a CM option. Plus, both Bale and Son can play Harry’s role too.

 

[BPR_U16]

Agenda for both DL and Jose is to win a trophy so can imagine short term planning to the fore as will also increase marketability which club needs to fill void of lack match income.
Short term cost, hopefully short term gain for long term success

 

[Wadec]

Wonder what Levy thinks we will achieve this season, is he certain we will get top 4 or win the Europa?

If he is not Bale could be the difference and the financial benefits would be reaped next year. However if he is certain we will get CL this year already Bale is purely a financial expense in the eyes of Levy.

Personally think it may happen, Bale knows after last season he will not be playing at Madrid and will want to be match fit for the Euros. There are not many teams who can even think about bringing Bale in, we are one of them and probably the best place for him.

Think we would need to move on Lamela personally as cannot see any room for him if Bale comes in. Would also free up a part of the wages needed for Bale.

There cannot be any Spurs fan not excited by the thought of Bale coming back.

 

[kent brockman]

Thanks Trix. Both the Bale news and that on Tanguy warm the cockles of my heart.

I read that as TN leaving was necessary in order to free up wages for GB.

 

[archiewasking]

I read that as TN leaving was necessary in order to free up wages for GB.

Can't be the case. If we needed TN's wages to be able to afford Bale, surely there wouldn't still be a deal to be done. It would have just offset some of the financial issues of paying Gareth's wages.

 

[y1dk1d]

TN was looking likely to leave and on big wages. He isn't now.

So do you think Tanguy staying would hinder any potential move for Bale?

 

[Mphw]

I so badly want to resign him it’s not healthy! But unfortunately it just seems too good to be true and I just can’t see DL pulling it off. On the other hand, if these rumours about being in talks with Diallo (cheaper striker option) it could mean we want to do the deal for Bale... fingers crossed I guess but definitely not getting my hopes up.

 

[parj]

As much as I'd love Bale back at WHL, I just don't know if it's right. 2 years ago, yes cos he still wanted to play football. Today, he only wants to play for Wales. Would he give even 80% before a competitive Wales game or tournament?

But more importantly, who does he replace in the starting line up? Kane, Son and Bergwijn/Lucas will be needed, which means it's Alli or Bale. One of those 2 will get pissed off.

Alli has a bigger future for us and of we get him back to his he was pre-hamstring then Bale isn't needed. But at the same time we have to get Bale back to his best after pretty much a year of no football.

 

[glospur]

I may be in the minority here, but I really don't think the juice is worth the squeeze in regards to Bale, I'd prefer any spare resources put towards the future of the team and not to some kind of vanity project of the chairman.

Hmm what is the future of the team?

Levy wants trophies. Appointing Jose makes that clear imo. And we've just signed two experienced PL players in positions of need; not young guys for the future. In that respect the short-term future is the future. I loved everything Pochettino, but at times it felt like we were stuck in the perpetual five-year plan, and at times that can be an excuse for failings. "Oh, we've got a young squad." "Oh, we're inexperienced." "Oh, we're rebuilding so results are less important." There has to come a time I think where the club says, "OK, this is it. We're planning for the now, not the future." I think appointing Jose was that point in time. If it wasn't for the pandemic putting a huge fucking question mark on the finances, I think our strategy this window would have reflected that change.

 

[Fredo]

Prepared to be let down but man I'm so excited at the real potential of us signing Bale. Just imagine what he'd do to the team. It would be completely transformed. Imagine Sonny, Kane and Bale on the pitch at the same time. Lo Celso, Ndombele and Holjberg behind them. We'd seriously challenge for the league.

 

[TheVoiceofReason]

If DLs got it to this point and pulls out, then he’s wasted his own time. Personally don’t see how this can make sense for Levy financially, but as Trix alluded to, he would have known that from the start.

 

[sausage]

Levy barely dropped a boat load of money pre Covid and when we had champions league football. I can’t see it happening now.

We spent well over £100m net last season

 

[spursfan77]

If DLs got it to this point and pulls out, then he’s wasted his own time. Personally don’t see how this can make sense for Levy financially, but as Trix alluded to, he would have known that from the start.

Makes more sense than spending €60m on a striker from Portugal.