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It’s mid-February, as we edge towards the business part of the season.
The Manchester clubs lead the table-toppers’ race along with Chelsea a hair behind in 3rd, but the race for the last Champions League spot has been eye-catching this time around, with London giants Tottenham and Arsenal locking horns with 12 matches to play now.
Tottenham, over the last few years, have been knocking on the door of this elite European spot, thanks to some exciting talent which they have managed to snap up over time.
Although the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Luka Modric left the club for the search of silverware, the Spurs have always made sure they received some handsome transfer fees in return for their top crop, if sold.
With the likes of Adebayor, Dempsey, Parker, Lennon, Dembélé and new boy Holtby, the Spurs are on song, and Garath Bale turning on his new-found rhythm makes them hot favourites to trump Arsenal for the Champions league spot this time around.
Gareth Bale, a Southampton product, signed for Tottenham at the age of 18 for a fee of £7 million, and since then has developed himself into one the most dangerous wingers in the world.
2013, and Sir Alex said of Bale ahead of their trip to White Hart Lane: “We tried to buy him from Southampton and they turned us down. It was not the boy who turned us down, it was Southampton, and then a few weeks later he signed for Tottenham.”
Bale stands 6’1″ tall and has been gifted with tremendous speed, agility and a physical presence, thus has often fallen into comparisons with former Manchester United and now Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo due to the similarities in style.
Former manager Harry Redknapp said about Bale in 2012: “He’s an amazing, amazing talent and he’s after the Ronaldos and Messis of this world and he’s getting better and better. He’s almost unplayable when he’s on his game. He is a genuine world-class player. There’s nobody he couldn’t play for. He’d improve any team.”
Although not winning as much silverware as Ronaldo, and certainly not scoring as many as the Portuguese international, Bale has always linked with top clubs for a while and it looks like he could be allowed to leave if the Spurs land their objectives and get an exciting offer from one of the giants of club football.
In 2010, Bale started showing glimpses of his talent, scoring 3 and handing 2 assists against the then-European champions Inter Milan. He rescued the Spurs, who were down 4 goals in the 1st half, by scoring his 1st senior hattrick, and it couldn’t have been any sweeter than getting it against one of the best full-backs in the world at that time in Inter Milan’s Maicon at the San Siro. Although they lost 4-3 at full-time, winning 3-1 in the return leg was some performance indeed, and ensured progression.
Rafael Van der Vaart said after the Inter match: “Everyone is scared of him [Bale]. Maicon is one of the best defenders in the world, and he’s killed him.”
Apart from being gifted with speed, agility and a strong physique, Bale also has an eye for goal, scoring at an average of over 10 goals for 3 years now. The Welshman scored 12 goals and made 16 assists last season, and has 18 goals and 7 assists in the current season already. Last night’s superb free kick goal scored at White Hart Lane against French side Lyon shows that he is hitting his peak now.
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas said after the 2-1 win at home: “He’s incredible, Not only his all-round game but this ability that he has to strike these free-kicks. The ball gains so much power when he strikes it and it changes direction very easily. Today we saw not only two great moments but three, because their goal was absolutely fantastic too. Gareth was fantastic.”
Lyon manager, Rémi Garde also spoke about Gareth Bale’s performance last night, saying: “If you mean in the context of the way they take free-kicks, I think you could make a decent comparison, if you’re referring to the way the ball dips and drops over the wall. We used to have a player at Lyon called Juninho and we always used to think with him that every time we got a free-kick in that area it was like a penalty. We’ve seen tonight that it’s a little bit like that with Bale and Tottenham.”
Bale has now scored each of his club’s last six goals in all competitions, with four of them coming from distance. He looks unstoppable when he gets into rhythm, and with 12 matches to play in the league this season, he could very well improve further for Tottenham and help them achieve the Champions League spot again. Who knows, he could bid them a happy farewell if it’s in his destiny to play at a bigger club in the coming season.
Although Gareth Bale is aged 23, has just signed a new 4-year deal, which keeps him at the Spurs till 2016. Yet, the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea are being heavily linked to win his signature, and his mesmerizing performances have made sure that he will be a hot property to land this summer.
