Bale is Back - A Fan's Perspective

Gareth Bale has been linked with a return to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club since the day he left. It seemed as though Spurs would be linked with Bale until he was in a retirement home. A dream that would never be because Bale was a superstar and Tottenham was, well Tottenham. And yet, it has happened.

Much can be said about Tottenham’s Chairman Daniel Levy missing out on opportunities to sign players and propel talented, albeit often thin in depth, squads over the years. Levy's job as chairman of the club is to manage the club’s finances, which includes player transfers, famously did not buy any players for two transfer windows in the 2018/19 season following a season in which the club finished third. This ignominious feat had never been done before by a Premier League club,, and it left then manager Mauricio Pochettino hamstrung with a thin squad and aging players.

However, Levy took advantage of the financial limitations of clubs during the first transfer window since the start of the pandemic. Although the Spanish footballing giants Real Madrid is not one of those clubs who need to sell players to stay financially afloat, it was clear a change needed to be made for both player and club after a well-documented fallout between Bale and Real Madrid Manager Zinidine Zidane.

A shrewd bit of business from Levy has brought back one of the most talented players in Tottenham’s history. The cherry on top of a summer transfer window that filled virtually all of the holes in the squad, as manager Jose Mourinho pointed out in a recent press conference. However, Bale was not a target of Mourinho.

When Levy was introduced as chairman back in 2001, the club made a point that Levy had been a lifelong fan. While there are plenty of non-emotional reasons to buy a four-time champions league winner who is still only 31 years-old, Levy understood on a personal level how significant seeing Bale wear Lilywhite would be for the fans, and it has been a mission of his to bring Bale back to Tottenham for years.

I asked Spurs fans on the subreddit “r/coys” (which stands for Come On You Spurs) about what Bale coming back means to them, and what can be expected from the player who Tottenham sold for a then world-record fee €85 million in 2013.

A Seminal Moment for the Club

The 2010 Champions League campaign was the first time Tottenham had played in the highest club competition in world football since 1991, back when the tournament was still called the Cup Winners’ Cup. While Tottenham has a long and storied history including being the first British club to win the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963. The club has only won a single trophy since the turn of the century - The English Football League Cup (EFL Cup) back in 2008.

Reddit user u/GetModricOrDieTrying shared his experience watching Bale score a hat-trick against Inter Milan in the Champions League in October, 2010. His performance against the reigning European champions, who also hadn’t lost at their home stadium, the San Siro in 50 games, was a coming-out party for the then 21-year-old.

“Being (down) 4-0 and a man down made us look amateur, like we couldn’t hang with the big boys,” wrote u/GetModricOrDieTrying. Bale’s three goals brought his team back within striking distance in the round of 16 tie, and set Tottenham up for a night to remember in the home leg at White Hart Lane.

“It was a seminal moment for the club,” proclaimed u/GetModricOrDieTrying, who said Bale “took it upon himself to drag us back into the contest and made us believe we belonged.” Bale contributed two assists in the home leg of the round of 16 affair which helped Spurs secure a 6-5 aggregate victory over Inter Milan and move on to the quarter finals of the competition.

Whether the now four-time Champions League winner can help Spurs get over the hump and win a trophy remains to be seen.

Just Seeing Him Play for Tottenham Again is Enough

Some fans expressed trepidation about whether Bale would be able to ultimately make an impact on the field. Bale has missed 120 games in his 11 year career through injury. While many of those injuries were relatively minor, the frequency at which he sustained them was a major factor in the erosion of his relationship with Real Madrid’s manager and notoriously demanding fan base.

“I feel that the emotional response will satisfy more than what he does on the pitch,” writes u/Ebuzz31, who worries that the scintillating and productive combination of Tottenham forwards Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane might be disrupted by the introduction of Bale. Son and Kane have combined for eight goals over the first five Premier League games. In fact, Son and Kane are ranked third in premier league history with 28 goal combinations so far in just over six years playing together.

However, since Bale played right wing for Real Madrid he won’t be vying for Kane or Son’s starting role. He is likely to displace Lucas Moura on the right side of the front three, teaming up with Kane and Son. However, team chemistry is fickle, and Spurs may not be able to afford to experiment with Bale in a season in which winning a trophy is seen as a bare minimum requirement for some (likely new) fans.

“Just seeing him play for Tottenham again... is enough for me.” writes u/thecrouton20, who said that Bale was his favorite player when he was a kid.

Bale Returning is More About the Club than Bale Himself

When Tottenham Sold Bale for a then world-record fee €85 million in the summer of 2013, there was optimism that the cash injection would enable Spurs to buy a more complete squad, one that would not need to rely on a talismanic player such as Bale. These funds were famously used to purchase the magnificent seven, who cost Tottenham a combined €119 million

Being perhaps slightly critical, four of those signings can be viewed as abject failures, while only one signing, who recently departed (from the club, not the earth) Christian Eriksen was a success. Eriksen stuck it out with the club through a period of mediocrity and was a pivotal part of the DESK (Dele, Eriksen, Son, Kane) front line that helped challenge for the Premier League title in the 2015/16 season and made it to the Champions League final in 2019/20.

Getting from the magnificent seven to the prolific DESK was a combination of clever business from Levy and plenty of luck. Son Heung-Min was acquired for €30 million and Dele “only cost €5 mil”, both of whom were acquired in the summer of 2015. Kane, on the other hand, was a product of the Tottenham Hotspur Academy, and was not seen as a particularly exciting prospect at the time. Since then, however, Kane has established himself as one of the top forwards in world football.

Since DESK was established, Tottenham have had reasonable success in both domestic and European competitions, but have yet to get past that final hurdle to win a trophy.

“I honestly never thought he’d return because I doubted that we’d ever take that step up to become legitimate contenders during his career,” writes u/cfowlaa, who believes that Bale no longer sees the club as beneath him.

While Tottenham’s accomplishments in the years since Bale’s departure pale in comparison to those of the prolific winger, the club has taken a giant leap forward in terms of infrastructure and market value. In addition to building a squad that can compete domestically and in Europe, Tottenham completed its project to build one of the best stadiums and training facilities in the world in 2019.

“To me, him returning is more about the club than about Bale himself. It shows that Tottenham have similarly grown in stature, influence, and ambition just as he has since he left,” said u/cfowlaa.