Peter Crouch has expressed his concern for Gareth Bale after Tottenham suffered a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool last night.
The BT Sport pundit was speaking alongside Jermaine Jenas and Rio Ferdinand when he made his interesting point.
Crouch said: ‘You do worry for him. He’s come here, there’s a lot of expectation, I don’t know what’s been happening but he can’t be doing it in training. I don’t think Mourinho trusts him in the big games.’
It’s clear that Jose Mourinho isn’t the 83-cap Wales international’s biggest fan right now.
The ex-Chelsea boss introduced the on-loan Real Madrid forward in the 81st minute against the Reds, with Spurs trailing 3-1.
Unless he pulled off a miracle, that isn’t much time for Bale to do anything.
It was only the 31-year-old’s fifth Premier League appearance of the season, and four of those have come after he stepped off the bench.
Mourinho just isn’t using Bale in the big games right now, suggesting that he isn’t overly convinced by his No.9.
The Southampton academy graduate does get game time in the cup competitions, however.
He’s started all six Europa League games so far this term, as well as once in the FA Cup and once in the Carabao Cup.
That implies that Mourinho does want to give him game time, but in competitions of lesser significance to the Premier League.
We can’t help but agree with Crouch.
The Portuguese coach’s treatment of Bale has been strange, and in our view, it’s highly unlikely that Spurs will re-sign him on loan, or buy him permanently.
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