It’s been a pretty subdued return to Tottenham Hotspur for Mr Gareth Bale so far.
There was obviously quite a lot of fanfare surrounding his fairytale return to Spurs from Real Madrid on loan.
But the 31-year-old has managed just the two goals in nine appearances so far.
And perhaps a bit more damning is the fact that he can’t get into Jose Mourinho’s plans as far as the Premier League goes.
Since returning to Tottenham, Bale, who had a minor injury at the time of re-signing, has clocked only 116 minutes of league football and was left on the bench for last week’s North London derby win over Arsenal – a fixture that evokes such fond memories for Lilywhites fans in regards to Bale.
But Bergwijn, one of the players keeping him out of Mourinho’s domestic XI, says that his new team-mate is absolutely still a ‘world-class player’ and one who will prove this fact again at some point in the near future.
The Dutchman, a £25 million signing last January, told Football London: “We play a lot of games so we need a lot of players. Everybody knows Gareth is a world class player so I am very happy he is here and he can help us.
“We have a big squad with a lot of goals in it. It is good that we have a lot of good players – we need that.”
Even in the Europa League, against inferior opposition, Bale has started all six of Tottenham’s games in that competition and is yet to blow anybody away in the same fashion he did during his first spell in North London.
That being said, form is temporary and class is permanent – and the Welshman might remind people of that adage again soon.
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