- 17 Dec 2024
Mourinho threatens Bale with return to Real Madrid
Emmet Gates
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:45 CDT
- 2 min read
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has threatened to send Gareth Bale back to Real Madrid if he doesn’t start producing.
Bale returned to Tottenham after seven years in the Spanish capital after falling out of favour under Zinedine Zidane at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Bale scarcely kicked a ball for Los Blancos last season, as he was relegated to the bench in the aftermath of a proposed move to China collapsing at the last minute.
Tottenham agreed to pay half of his massive £600k per-week salary with Madrid in order to take the player on loan for this season.
However Bale hasn’t shone thus far. The Welshman has mostly been utilised in secondary competitions, such as the Europa League and the League Cup.
He’s only started one league game this season for Tottenham.
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In a recent training session, Mourinho was heard telling the 31-year-old that if he didn’t put in more effort, Mourinho would send him back to Madrid at the end of the current campaign.
“You want to stay here? Or go [back] to Real Madrid and play no football?” Mourinho was heard telling Bale.
His words were picked up by pitch-side microphones.
Bale has only scored once since re-joining the club, and that came in the 2-1 win against Brighton in early November.
He’s also yet to register an assist upon his return.
Bale originally played for Spurs from 2007 to 2013, before his world record transfer to Madrid.
He won four Champions League titles in the capital, in addition to two La Liga titles, one Copa Del Rey and three FIFA World Club Cups.
It’s thought that Spurs have the option to extend Bale’s loan for a second season, but given how little he’s played under Mourinho, there’s a good chance he could be returned to sender at the end of this campaign.
