Tales of homecoming in football are always the ones of great reminiscence. While on some occasions, they go astray, most of them are filled with joy of reunion and a return to the olden days of glory.
There are many examples to seek out with the latest ones including the return of Wayne Rooney to his boyhood club Everton, David Luiz’s comeback to Chelsea and Cesc Fabregas reuniting with Barcelona.
While Rooney’s move appears to be falling through, Luiz’s return saw him win the league with the Blues for the first time and Fabregas’s move to Nou Cap saw him win it all across Europe. The latest chapter that could be added to the romantic story of football is that of Gareth Bale returning to Tottenham Hotspur.
Bale was a Southampton academy product when he moved to Tottenham as a left-back with a flair for attacking play. His rise to prominence was early after being named the Football League Young Player of The Year in 2007, at the age of 17. His free-kick prowess made him a specialist very early in his career.
The Welsh speedster’s development saw him grow from an average left-back to the most promising winger in the English Premier League. Bale’s exploits in the Premier league in the two seasons of 2009-10 and 2010-11 saw him become a feared player in England.
The English league known for its pace and physicality struggled to keep up with Bale as the Welshman went on to become the PFA Player’s Player of the Year in the 2012-13 season. He also won the Football Writer’s Association Player of the Year and the PFA Young Player of the Year. He became the only second player ever at that time to win all three awards in the same season after Cristiano Ronaldo.
Gareth Bale went on to finish the season with 26 goals and 15 assists and following huge interest from Real Madrid over the summer, completed a move to the Spanish capital side for a then world-record fee.
In his four seasons at the club, Bale has gone on to make close to 200 appearances scoring a little over 80 goals and setting up over 60 assists. He has also won the Spanish league and three Champions League trophies with the Los Blancos and is on the verge of winning another one.
However, his Real career has been set back several times with injuries and Bale has never been able to get a long string of games for the club, testing the patience of both fans and the Real management. Although he has on several occasions said he wants to stay at Real Madrid, it might no longer be in his hand.
This development at Madrid has seen him being linked with a move back to Spurs. Tottenham are now a much more developed side than the one Bale left with attacking superstars like Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and the deadly Harry Kane.
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Adding Bale to their ranks will see Mauricio Pochettino form a world-class attack that could potentially win him the league. It now remains to be seen whether Spurs get to reunite with their former superstar and how much would they have to cough up to land him.
