‘Top 5 players in the world’: World Cup-bound star Tottenham could sign praised

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Dean Saunders has claimed that ex-Tottenham forward, Gareth Bale, is in the ‘top five players in the world’ right now, as he told talkSPORT.

Whilst Bale, who has been linked with a return to Tottenham this summer, doesn’t earn enough minutes on the domestic stage, he gets enough under his belt for Wales.

The 32-year-old’s story will go on for a little longer after he helped Wales qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

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Many felt that if Wales failed to reach the World Cup, then Bale, whose contract at Real Madrid expires in June, would have hung up his boots. 

But, instead, he will be heading to Qatar in November, as former Wales striker Saunders praised the player and his ‘end product’

“He should have options,” said Saunders. “What you get when you sign Gareth Bale is end product.

“Bale is right up there. For me, for end product and producing, week in and week out, he is in the top five in the world.

“He went to Spurs, didn’t play when he first got there, all of sudden when they started playing him and he got fitter. BANG! He’s scoring every week. He got 16 goals. 

“You win Premier League player of the Year for getting 16 goals now – he needs to play with players that are on the same wavelength as him. He sees things early and he can play the ball early.”

WHAT NEXT FOR BALE?

The Welshman has a very big decision to make during these coming weeks because he needs the game time to be ready for Qatar.

It’s all well and good being half-cooked for qualifying games, but he can’t afford to do so on the world’s biggest stage.

Heading into Euro 2020, Bale opted to return to Tottenham, where he scored 11 Premier League goals under Jose Mourinho and Ryan Mason.

Could the same happen again with Antonio Conte in charge? It’s possible, but also dependent on what Bale is looking for, contract-wise and from a financial perspective.

If even by the slightest it doesn’t suit Spurs, then there is no point in pushing for a deal because Conte has enough game-changers in the final third to pick from.