[ad_pod ]
Tottenham Hotspur fans were sent into a frenzy last weekend after Mauricio Pochettino pleaded ignorance when asked about the possibility of Gareth Bale returning to the club.
He is being frozen out at Real Madrid and his manager, Zinedine Zidane, has confirmed that he wants the Wales international to leave the club.
Asked about the possibility of a stunning deal to bring Bale back, Pochettino said: “Yes, I saw in the media but I don’t know which club is working, trying to sign him. At the moment I don’t have any information from my chairman. I don’t know if we are or it’s another club. It’s not my job. It’s the job of my chairman that is trying to build the best squad possible.”
Cue meltdown.
Scores of fans flooded Twitter, begging for the club to bring the former star back to north London.
Across a six-year stay in the capital, Bale became a megastar, scoring 56 goals and registering 58 assists in 203 games. He scored that famous hat-trick against Inter Milan. He became renowned for long-range screamers. He moved for a world-record fee.
Yet fans are forgetting something: Bale treated Spurs like dirt.
On August 28th, 2013, as he neared a move to Madrid, the Daily Telegraph reported that he failed to turn up to training for two days in a row.
His then-manager, Andre Villas-Boas, had expected him to turn up, per the report, but he simply didn’t.
The manager later said in a press conference that Bale would probably be fined for failing to report.
He said, per The Metro: “He is involved in a big transfer move to Real Madrid and in the end if it happens, we wish him all the best, but the fact that he hasn’t turned up is not the correct behaviour.
“That is the position they chose to take and it’s up to the club to decide if it’s a fineable offence.”
Prior to this, on July 23rd, Marca, via the Telegraph, reported that Bale had told Spurs chairman Daniel Levy he wanted to leave after his agent, Jonathan Barnett, was involved in a clandestine meeting with Los Blancos officials in which he was shown his client’s prospective No.11 shirt at the Bernabeu.
Barnett, the Telegraph claimed, was involved in discussions as to how to force Spurs into a sale.
On July 30th, the newspaper claimed that Bale was growing “frustrated” and that his state of mind was one of “anger” that Spurs were adopting a “stubborn approach”.
The next day, they reported that Bale had personally informed Villas-Boas he wanted to leave.
This is not a player who respected Spurs.
Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
Of course, players have dream moves. Certain Premier League players want to play for certain big clubs abroad. It has happened ad infinitum and is happening again this summer, with Eden Hazard moving to Real Madrid from Chelsea.
Yet for fans to beg for Bale’s return is to forget what he did to the club.
It was a summer of frustration for fans as the transfer rebel essentially soiled his own legacy.
He had been turned into a star by Tottenham and then, at the drop of a hat, turned his back on them, chasing the big move.
It has gone south. He does not seem to be wanted in Madrid despite winning a clutch of trophies and scoring one of the best goals the Champions League has ever seen.
It is ironic, really, that despite his performances, he is not being shown any loyalty, in almost a mirror image of what he did to Spurs.
Reports suggest that he could well end up in China, where he might earn over £1m-per-week and play with the likes of Marko Arnautovic, who recently forced his way out of West Ham United in pursuit of a payday.
That is the very definition of poetic justice and it is exactly what Bale deserves.
Those Spurs fans who want him back are being forgetful; he wronged the club and its supporters; he should not be welcomed back with open arms.