‘He gave up fighting’: Club legend says player’s Tottenham exit solves problem

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Real Madrid will “get rid of a problem” when Gareth Bale seals his emotional return to Tottenham Hotspur, former Los Blancos director of football Predrag Mijatovic has told Cadena SER.

There will be celebrations in England and Spain’s capitals when the Welsh wing wizard puts pen to paper alongside Jose Mourinho and Daniel Levy today (Sky).

Seven years after he departed as the most expensive footballer in history, Bale will return to Spurs with four Champions League medals around his neck and a lot more hair on his head.

But while Bale’s homecoming is the stuff of dreams for many Tottenham fans, his impending departure may be met with a sigh of relief by some Real Madrid fans too.

“Madrid get rid of a problem with Bale. For him it is also important to play, and he will achieve it,” says Mijatovic, a 1998 Champions League winner who returned to the Bernabau behind the scenes eight years later.

“(His) relationship with (Zinedine) Zidane was bad and he gave up fighting. I don’t know who the culprit is. Bale can play football – but not at Real Madrid.

“You have to know what goes through his head to know if he is guilty. Surely one day he will give an interview where he tells us how he has spent these seven years.”

Bale made just 12 starts as Real reclaimed their La Liga title last term and there are plenty of doubts about whether a 31-year-old with a history of injures, not to mention an alarming lack of match fitness, can become an explosive attacking force at the top level once more.

However, as James Rodriguez proved in Everton’s 1-0 win against Spurs on Sunday, class is permanent.