How Tottenham could re-sign Gareth Bale
It may be unlikely, but there is a path for Tottenham to bring Gareth Bale back to White Hart Lane
Rafa Benitez’s unceremonious sacking at Real Madrid has cranked the rumor mill up about the possibility of Gareth Bale leaving the La Liga giants. While most stories are focused on the possibility of him moving to Manchester United, it is possible that Tottenham could engineer things to bring him back to the place where his ascension to stardom began.
Obviously this is a long-shot. Let me clear things up right away by saying that I don’t think Bale is going anywhere in January. He played a very prominent role for Benitez and I don’t expect things to change under Zinedine Zidane.
On the off-chance he would leave, his ultimate destination probably wouldn’t be Tottenham. The point I’m making is that if he decides to move, a return to White Hart lane is NOT out of the question.
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There’s no question that Spurs still have a need for a player like Bale in their squad. They’ve shuffled various wingers in and out of the starting 11 this year and have even been relatively unsettled at the number 10 position.
Bale would waltz into the squad and be a must-start at any spot he desired. Don’t over complicate matters. He’s a star player. If he returned to Tottenham he’d be Spurs’ best player again immediately. He’s that good.
The real challenge, of course, isn’t how to fit him into the squad. Instead it’s trying to figure out how to afford him. Bale certainly wouldn’t come cheap. Real Madrid might even want to try to profit from his departure.
That means players would have to be sold from Tottenham if they wanted to afford Bale. I’m going to operate under the assumption that there is some transfer budget for Mauricio Pochettino currently so it’s not as if they’d need to raise the entire sale price of roughly 75 million pounds. For the sake of discussion, let’s say they’d only need to come up with 50 million pounds through player sales.
The first man to go would be Christian Eriksen. It would sadden me personally to see him on his way out, but I’d get over it if it meant a Bale return. He’s an exceptionally talented player, but if we’re honest with ourselves, his fit in Pochettino’s system is far from ideal.
If he were available on the open market he’d have a ton of suitors and I think Levy could conservatively get 35 million for the elegant midfielder.
That only leaves 15 million more pounds to bring in. Tottenham already have plans to sell Federico Fazio and Andros Townsend in January and it wouldn’t be a stretch to get that sum of money from their combined sales. You’d likely end up with a bit more cash from getting rid of that pair.
For those of you keeping score, it means that Tottenham could likely afford to bring Bale back simply by making the decision to sell Christian Eriksen. I dare say that’s a trade that most fans, and Daniel Levy would make in a heart beat.
Bringing Gareth Bale back to Tottenham may not be the striking acquisition that most fans are currently coveting, but something tells me they’d be happy to sacrifice that wish to bring the Welshman back to White Hart Lane.