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There is no denying that the derby day massacre at the Emirates rocked Spurs to their very core. Since that 5-2 defeat, the Lilywhites have only mustered one victory in the Premier League, which has seen them relinquish their once firm grip on third place. Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea only served to heap more misery on the North London club who are now in real danger of missing out on Champions League qualification.
Away from events on the pitch, the unresolved futures of Harry Redknapp and Luka Modric continue to be smeared across the back pages, evoking disgruntled murmurs from the stands at White Hart Lane. However, these two sub-plots could find themselves overshadowed should any of the European powerhouses step up their interest in Gareth Bale.
The Welsh Wizard was propelled onto the world stage after single handedly dismantling Inter Milan back in 2010. Bale has continued to build on his growing reputation as one of the best left-sided players in the world, thanks to an impressive first half of the season. Unfortunately the 22-year-old has mirrored his clubs recent dip in form but despite this he’ll surely be an integral part of the Olympic squad come the summer.
With this in mind perhaps Spanish giants Barcelona will seek to tie up a deal for Bale before he can further showcase his exquisite talent on the big screen. Dani Alves recently stoked the fires in the transfer rumour mill by declaring that Bale would fit seamlessly into the mould at the Catalan club.
“The idea Bale has of football is really quite similar to the Brazilian perspective,” he says. “He is a full-back in the Brazilian style. In Europe they play more defensively so they tend to play him as a winger, but in my team he would be a full-back. He is a spectacular player.” (Independent)
However the Brazilian was also keen to stress that despite the fact club scout Albert Valenti had watched Bale on a number of occasions, Barcelona will not pursue a transfer based purely on hype.
“Barça always sign players who they know will fit into the team…They ask themselves if the player can fit ‘here, here and here’ and if they decide that yes, he would fit ‘there, there and there’, then they make their move.” (Independent)
Tottenham can perhaps take solace from this revelation as Bale has continued to look ineffective when he has drifted inside this season. At Barcelona, each player boasts an incredible versatility, capable of excelling in a number of positions all over the pitch. Yet, when Bale has been double-teamed on the left flank his ventures into Van Der Vaart territory have proved largely unsuccessful. Would the raw pace of Gareth Bale be stifled in amongst the often-patient build-up on display at the Nou Camp?
Perhaps a more likely potential destination could be Real Madrid, where current left-back Fábio Coentrão has found himself in the crosshairs of criticism after a dreadful performance against Bayern Munich. Madrid’s other option at left-back is the Brazilian Marcelo who appears to be as volatile as he is brilliant, the defender was lucky not see red in Tuesday’s game after making a challenge so late, the rest of his team were already on the plane home. Bale would certainly fit the modern day Galactico billing with current president Florentino Perez unlikely to be perturbed by an extortionate asking price.
Of course this is all mere speculation, Bale is yet to signal any real intention that he wants to leave but did reveal that any move to the Spanish pair would be difficult to turn down. Spurs are incredibly lucky that their chairman Daniel Levy refuses to be bullied in the transfer market, as proven with his stance in the Luka Modric debacle. However, if Bale casts his mind back to February when his team were just five points off the top of table, will he question whether they can ever get that close again?
Join me on Twitter @theunusuedsub where I’m looking ahead to the London derbies this weekend, both of which could have a significant impact on the respective clubs.
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