‘Has to be careful’: Martin Keown has warning for Gareth Bale at Tottenham

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Martin Keown has told the Daily Mail that Gareth Bale needs to be careful of trying too hard at Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs have brought back Bale, and the Welshman already appears to have been given a new lease of life since the transfer.

Bale has looked to be loving life back at Spurs in training and he is expected to make an appearance against West Ham United on Sunday.

Whether Bale will feature as a starter or a substitute remains to be seen.

But Keown insists that the 31-year-old must not be drawn into trying too much too soon, as he looks to impress back at Spurs.

“I found myself trying too hard in my first few matches and Bale has to be careful,” Keown said.

“Anyone who has appeared in both the Premier League and LaLiga will tell you which one is the more demanding and the Welshman hasn’t played regularly for some time.

“I’m sure Jose Mourinho will be thinking about managing his minutes and Spurs’ medical team will be all over it, too.

“They handled Harry Kane’s return from a nasty injury with great care. Bale will have watched his new team tear apart Manchester United — the club he could have joined instead — and felt he made the right call.

“He will want to get on the pitch and join the party but he needs to go easy. At 31, he is young enough to achieve big things with Tottenham.”

Bale does return to Spurs with a point to prove, after not featuring regularly for so long at Real Madrid.

But it may be a few weeks before Tottenham fans see the best of the Welshman.

Bale has been suffering with an injury ever since returning to Spurs, and is unlikely to be fully match sharp for a while yet.

That being said, the prospect of seeing Bale line-up in the same attack as Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son is hugely exciting, and it should make Tottenham one of the most dangerous teams in the Premier League.