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What's the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Gareth Bale? Wales, right? The second thing? Probably golf, these days. But after that? Nothing really comes to mind.
Jokes apart, over the years, whenever we have spoken about Gareth Bale, pace has always been an important part of the discussion. Pure, raw, blistering pace. Bale was rightfully regarded among the fastest footballers in the world for years.
Be it at Spurs as a young man or at Real Madrid, Bale knocking the ball past you and sprinting past like you weren't there must have been a terrifying prospect for defenders. Just ask Maicon or Marc Bartra.
Something else that has also always been associated with Bale, sadly, are injuries. Knee, calf, thigh, ankle, hamstring - being a speed demon comes with its negatives.
As for Bale, these negatives have been omnipresent as well. Every spell of good form has been followed by a spell on the sidelines. While this isn't anything new for him, the Welshman has frequented the treatment table for almost as long as he's been around.
Regardless of what anyone or Bale himself may say, repeated injuries do take a toll on a person, both physically and mentally. So it looked like for a long time Bale's love for the game was waning.
Lack of form coupled with injuries meant that he found himself out of Zidane's first choice XI. This wasn't something new. Even during the later stages of Real Madrid's three-peat, Bale found himself out of favor.
More often than not it was Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo playing ahead of Isco, who joined the midfield in a diamond formation rather than the much vaunted BBC.
Things looked to improve as he came on from the bench and scored twice in the Champions League final in 2017/18. With both Ronaldo and Zidane leaving Real Madrid after that game, the stage was set for Bale to become the new talisman.
However, that didn't work out as planned. Soon enough, Zidane was back and Bale was reinstated to the bench. To be fair to the French coach, Bale's performances didn't justify a starting berth either.
At the beginning of the 19/20 season, the once world record signing had an offer from China, an opportunity to start over. He looked set to leave but Zidane cut it off at the last moment because Marco Asensio's ACL injury meant Real were already one forward short.
That meant another season on the bench for the Welshman. Now it looked like Bale was just happy to sit on the bench as well, regularly mocking the cameras.
The opportunity finally came last season to return to London and play consistently again as he returned to Spurs on loan. Although he wasn't a starter for the majority of the season, his numbers still looked good. For Wales, he continued to be talismanic as he guided them towards qualification for Euro 2020.
Now, at Euro 2020, Bale has dropped consecutive world class performances as Wales find themselves on the edge of progressing from their group. So clearly, there's still a great footballer in there.
This is how he can be reinvented and rediscovered.
Gareth Bale's new role
First of all, there might still be a great player in there, but it's not the same player. The decline, be it due to age or injuries, has definitely taken place.
Most importantly, as I stated earlier, it has changed how we see Bale as a player. He's no longer the fastest player in the world. More often than not, he's not even the fastest in his own team. This has meant he can no longer outpace defenders who keep getting faster and younger as time goes by with ease.
This is not to say that he is slow or anything but the trademark pace has dwindled.
So the focus must shift to other parts of his game. Curiously, during his second stint at Spurs he wore the number 9 shirt. Now, 9 is a number associated with a striker.
Bale has played his entire career first as a full-back and then for a long time as a winger. But perhaps his future does lie at the number 9 position.
I said earlier that the focus should perhaps shift to other parts of his game. Bale's passing has always been underrated. This season, especially, his passing has been excellent. This has mostly taken place with him dropping into the right half-space and creating play.
Now this is something that is increasingly becoming common within elite forwards. Messi has been doing it for years, Kane does it now and even Lewandowski does it for Poland. If Gareth Bale was to perhaps play as a striker, he could drop deep and orchestrate the game in a similar manner.
But this would need something else, runners into the box. Bale's long passing from a slightly deeper position is most effective when there are runners getting into the box looking to get on the end of these passes.
These runners can be wingers, fullbacks, attacking midfielders or even box-to-box midfielders. Essentially anyone that can make a run into the box to take advantage of the space vacated by Bale dropping deep and taking a centre-back with him.
For example, if you look at his passes to Son while at Spurs or to Ramsey against Turkey in the Euros, you'd understand what I'm talking about.
Apart from that, Bale certainly has the profile to fit in as a striker too. He is tall, strong and good in the air and his career is a testament to the fact that he's a great finisher as well.
He can still dribble, not just down the flanks sprinting past people. He can also do it in tight spaces as he showed repeatedly in the Turkey game.
Now it is true that he can do most of this while playing on the flanks too, but in my opinion that would mean limiting him and whatever team he's playing for. This is because, instead of runners, there would already be a stationary 9 in the box, making it easier to defend against.
Not only that, but if Bale is played as a striker that leaves a place for another winger. The winger can then not only support Bale but bring his own attributes into the game as well.
Lastly, there are a couple of hindrances to this too but none that cannot be dealt with. First, if this reinvention were to take place, it would not happen at Bale's current club, Real Madrid.
They already have a world class striker in Benzema and the players they possess aren't suited to Bale's reinvention anyway. At Tottenham, however, this wouldn't be the case. They have Son as a willing runner from the wings.
Spurs also have Dele Alli from midfield and others like Lucas Moura and Steve Bergwijn who can do the same. Moreover, they have a possible vacancy in the striking department with Harry Kane clearly looking to leave this summer.
The second issue is with his goalscoring. Over the last few years, Bale hasn't been all that good at goalscoring. In fact, it was back in 2017/18 that he last hit 15 league goals. This, however, might not be as much of a concern with regards to his quality over other things though.
Great forwards never lose their goalscoring touch, even as other aspects of their game might dwindle due to age. Look at the numerous examples around - Suarez, Ibrahimovic, Cavani, Aguero and even Ronaldo to some extent. Hence, with consistent game time, a working system and a good gameplan, this can be remedied.
Hence my verdict is that in order to truly return amongst the game's elite, this is a necessary reinvention that Gareth Bale must undertake.
