Gareth Bale said his seven years at Real Madrid made him grow up as a footballer and developed his personality even better. He stressed that he has nothing to regret in and out of Madrid.
Bale left Real Madrid to return to Tottenham Hotspur which he left in 2013 for a then world transfer record fee of £85 million. After helping the Spanish club to win four UEFA Champions League and other major titles, the club’s manager Zinedine Zidane felt Bale no longer deserved to be part of his squad.
Hence, Bale suffered the longest wait for footballing action despite not being injured. He ended the 2019-2020 season playing just 20 matches mostly from the bench.
From that point, it became clearer to the 31-year-old Wales international that the only way he could save his career was to get a club where he could play as regularly as possible. Then Manchester United and Tottenham came calling. He decided to settle for his former club and joined them for a season-long loan.
Though Zidane was seen as the major reason why Bale could no longer have regular playing time at Madrid, it sometimes looked like it was beyond the manager. The Wales international suffered a series of boos from Madrid’s fans due to his antics off the pitch.
“Obviously going into a different culture, a different country, I’ve had to grow up as a person, never mind a footballer”, Bale told Sky Sports.
“You just learn how to deal with the situations that you’re in. Obviously, I’ve been in immense pressure situations. I’ve had people on the pitch whistling in the stadium to me.
“So yeah I’ve just learned how to deal with those types of things, to not take it to seriously, take it too much to heart, and yeah just get on with it. It’s football – something that you love doing and you just need to give your best and sometimes that’s all you can do.”
Gareth Bale is ready to do more for Tottenham
Bale is back to a Tottenham Hotspur squad which is under the watch of a Portuguese tactician who is known to be a result-oriented coach. Hence, a lot will be demanded from the Wales international as much as Spurs’ fans demand a lot from the tactician.
With the presence of Bale in the squad that has Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min, the fans believe that Tottenham could win a major title for the first time since 2008. They are progressing in the Europa League and in other tournaments with the aim of ending one of them as the overall winners.
“We have a great team here now with a great squad”, Bale noted. “They’ve been doing great. Obviously, in the time that I’ve gone away, they’ve gone on and on and obviously reached the Champions League final, the club’s got a new stadium, the club itself is better, they’re doing better in the Premier League every year.
“So I just want to add to that. I want to try and bring a bit more to the team and try and progress even more and keep pushing in the right direction.”
Gareth Bale is yet to play any competitive match since he returned to Tottenham due to a knee injury he sustained in September while playing for his national team. Jose Mourinho and Tottenham’s fans are already looking forward to when the Wales international will be ready to put on the Spurs’ jersey again.
